BLIND DATE
Marv set to silence sceptics who dubbed switch north as beginning of the end with a second cup
May doesn’t have shirt number omen on his side this time but he’s still sure Saints can be cup heroes
PERFECT FIT Gaffer Davidson, right, and May with Scottish Cup back in 2014, main
STEVIE MAY isn’t about to change his surname to February by deed poll and he’s not asking for the No.28 shirt at Hampden tomorrow.
No, this time St Johnstone will have to do it all by themselves. No omens, no gimmicks, just football if they are to emulate the legends of May 17, 2014.
To be fair, the striker doesn’t believe any higher power was responsible for winning the Scottish Cup seven years ago but he was happy enough being the poster boy for that triumph over Dundee United.
And he’s delighted to be involved in tomorrow’s attempt to emulate that achievement by beating Livingston in the Betfred Cup Final.
Everything has changed this time around but May is hoping the outcome remains the same.
The 2014 victory remains seared in the memory of every St Johnstone fan and will be synonymous with the Perth striker for as long as football is talked about in the Fair City.
May wore the No.17 jersey for Saints that day. On May 17, 2014.
Tomorrow, St Johnstone have the chance to lift a second major trophy and this clash will be played out at Hampden rather than Parkhead. The biggest change, of course, is no fans will be around to witness it.
The 28-year-old smiled and said: “The May 17 stuff was good. I don’t think we won it just because of me but it was a nice little thing for me and it sold a few jerseys.
“The chairman made sure I didn’t get any cut of that, you won’t be surprised to know!
“It’s completely different this time. I was thinking to myself it’s beneficial to fully focus on the game and the job at hand. “There’s a lot fewer outside faces and voices. You are just coming into training and then going home, whereas there was so much more last time round.
“It might help to focus solely on the job. Obviously the situation is terrible but it does allow us to focus on our game plan and get our heads on it.” May, who left Saints after the
Scottish
Cup triumph for spells with Sheffield Wednesday, Preston and Aberdeen before returning to Perth at the start of last season, admits seeing excitement build on social media has brought home to the players the magnitude of the occasion – even if they cannot sample the usual prefinal hype for themselves.
The Tay was lit up blue earlier this week and images of past successes projected on to buildings
He added: “Yeah, we’ve seen all that. The boys have all commented on it.
“It’s huge. You kind of lose that aspect of how huge it is when you’re not able to be around the town. The last time, we’d be going in for a coffee after training and seeing all the shops done up.
“We’ve not got that but we can replace that by seeing all the stuff on social media.
“It’s brilliant to see and hopefully we can get the job done for them.”
The striker was centre stage last time around but admits he may have to come off the bench tomorrow if boss Callum Davidson sticks with Chris Kane and Guy Melamed, who have been pivotal with Saints losing just twice in 11 games.
May’s ready for anything, though, and admits playing any part at the National Stadium would be a thrill.
He said: “I’ve got good memories of Celtic Park. We won the Cup and I made my Scotland debut there.
“It’s a great ground and it didn’t take anything away from the occasion. You maybe even get a little closer to the fans.
“I don’t know about other people but it took nothing away from the experience for me – I was just happy to get my hands on the trophy. They could have given it to me in the basement, as long as I got a touch.
“But it’s nice to be at the National Stadium now. We’d love the fans to be there but it’s not to be, so we must try to do what we did in the semi-final and get it done.
“A lot of boys won’t have played there before the semi-final and they now have good memories from the place. That does help.
“It would be lovely if we could have fans in but it’s not to be, so we’ve got to make the most of the situation as it is. “Hampden is a huge arena for us to go and play and hopefully we can win the Cup. “I’ve not played the last few games but the boys have been doing brilliantly and it’s hard to get back in the side. “But the most important thing is getting this win over the line. It doesn’t matter who plays or scores. “It could be an own goal, I don’t care. It’s just about doing everything you can for the team to get the job done and our hands on silverware.”
MARVIN BARTLEY looks back on a chaotic end to his career in English football and the jibes he was heading to Scotland to retire knowing he’s had the last laugh.
Even as a teenager trying to make his way in the game, he was told his hopes of succeeding as a footballer were dead after being rejected by a manager of an AMATEUR team.
That’s why, as he prepares for his second cup final in six years north of the border, the Livingston skipper can’t wait to show the doubters his career is very much alive and kicking.
Bartley has a list of sceptics primed for a barrage of pictures if the Lions lift silverware at Hampden tomorrow.
Should he succeed, the 34year-old midfielder will have the distinction of winning the last silverware before Celtic’s run of dominance began – the 2016 Scottish Cup with Hibs – and the first since it came to an end.
Far more importantly, though, he’ll have shown – not for the first time – his call to snub offers in England to move north was the right one.
Asked if these occasions justify his career choice, Bartley said: “Yes, and I hope some of the managers who said I was going up to Scotland to retire because I didn’t want the hustle and bustle of playing in England look at it now and say the right decision.
“The majority of them are now out of work so one of us made the right decision and a few of them made the wrong decision. They were managers who were trying to sign me.
“I had a difficult two years at Leyton Orient before coming up to Scotland. We had a foreign owner who invested a lot of money but also wanted to pick the team. It was very strange.
“We had Andrea Dossena, an ex-Italy international left-back.
“The chairman came down one day at half-time and said,
I made ‘Right, this league is rubbish, I’m paying him £17,000 a week so put him up front’.
“The lads were like, ‘What? It’s not FIFA, you can’t just put him up front because you’re paying him loads of money’.
“The manager didn’t do it and we won the game. But he came down after the game and sacked the manager!
“Those were the sorts of things I was dealing with and I thought, ‘You know what, I just want to make the right decision next time’ – because I was close to retirement after dealing with that and this was at 29. Coming
I kept self-belief and it’s borne fruit. I’ve gone on to have
to Hibs was fantastic for me and the right sort of opportunity I wanted.
“But managers were trying to sign me and weren’t too pleased I had chosen to come up to Scotland rather than going on to help them.
“In football you make decisions and luckily enough it was the right one because of the way my career has gone.”
Long before then, he’d learned how to deal with rejection.
He said: “I was playing for a team called Burnham in the fourth tier of non-league football, so quite far outside League Two.
“One day the manager just came up to me and said, ‘You’re not good enough to play at this level, you won’t make it but good luck to you’.
“It was as blunt as that. That was probably a turning point because I could have listened to his opinion and dropped down a few levels and been playing local Saturday football.
“I decided to prove him wrong. That’s what I say to young people, whether it’s within football or whatever industry or environment, ‘The opinion you have of yourself is the most important one’.
“The most important thing is I kept self-belief and it’s borne fruit because I’ve gone on to have a professional career while he coaches an Under-10s team!
“I’ve not got his number any more but I’ll be able to get hold of it. I’ll send him a couple of pictures if we are to win.
“This is 18 years ago – I’m the real winner, aren’t I? Me, not him!” Bartley’s tale of defying the odds is the perfect fit for Livi. The club have overcome so many hurdles, including administration and demotion, since they won this competition 17 years ago that it would take a brave man to bet against them repeating their 2004 glory against St Johnstone.
Bartley admits it’s 50-50 and could come down to the rub of the green.
But with the knowledge it’s probably his last taste of a final occasion, the veteran is determined to grab the opportunity going with Davie Martindale’s outfit.
And while he’d clearly prefer to be on the pitch and having an impact, Bartley admits he would simply be delighted to see his teamup mates clinch the trophy even if he’s stuck on the bench like he was with Hibs five years ago. He said: “I just want to win the game. “If Dave was to say to me, ‘Listen you are not playing on Sunday but we are guaranteed to win’, I would take that all day. “I want to be part of that winning feeling. Let’s be honest, it is going to be my last major cup final as a player. “It will almost be like a perfect end, not an end to a career because I have another year left but nearing the end. “It will be a perfect time for me. At 18 years, I was getting released by an amateur team. Here I’m at 34 with a possibility of winning a national cup and having a Scottish Cup already.”
SCOTT BROWN reckons Celtic are in safe hands with John Kennedy at the helm after watching the Hoops coach help build one of the best players on the planet.
The Parkhead skipper was gutted to see Neil Lennon leave this week but knows the show must go on.
Kennedy has stepped into the breach and Brown believes there’s no better man for the job right now as the club look to stabilise for the remainder of the season.
The coach has been in with the bricks at Celtic for two decades and it was no shock to see Hoops star turned Arsenal stalwart Kieran Tierney being one of the first to offer his support.
Premier League ace Tierney called Kennedy his hero and Brown admits he also idolises the new interim gaffer.
The 35=year-old, who has ruled out a coaching role himself, said: “As a coach, John is the one I look up to.
“He sits and studies football, whether it is any league in the world. He watches, players, shapes, styles and tries to take the positives out of any situation.
“He is fantastic with the kids but he has also been fantastic with the firstteam players.
“There are a lot of players out there who will be thanking John and Neil for pretty much everything they have done.
“John has brought a lot of the young players through. He produced Kieran, who is probably one of the best leftbacks in the world right now.
“He has helped every single person at this club over the last eight or nine years I have known him.
“We’re lucky John is still here as he knows all the lads inside out. He’s been here long enough, so he knows what the club is all about and he’s been taking a lot of the training sessions anyway.
“It’s easy enough for John to get everyone behind him. We’ve got to try to focus and get results again.
“It’s not about him or anybody else – it’s about us all together.”
Brown is adamant Kennedy can cope with the new role but the caretaker has still copped flak from angry fans.
There are plenty of folk who place the blame for this season’s defensive frailties at the former centre-half ’s door.
But the captain insists the problems at the back are a shared responsibility.
Brown said: “It is easy enough just because he was a defender to blame him for the set-plays.
“John is not just a defensive coach – John takes attacking set-plays, shooting drills, he takes the midfielders, he takes defenders, he takes the strikers, he does everything. You can’t just give him the defensive one.
“We have to take the brunt for that. It is the players who need to defend the ball, head the ball and clear the ball.
“It is one of those ones when everything isn’t going so well it is always everyone’s fault.
“John’s training is brilliant, as is his dedication to the club. He is in here until 8pm most nights and is working on all sorts of things.
“He has that drive to become a quality manager and coach and he has been showing that week in, week out with Brendan Rodgers and Neil, both of whom put a lot of faith and a lot of trust in him.” Brown was tipped to help in the dugout but insists his focus remains on the pitch. He also admits his mind is not yet made up on his future beyond the summer – despite outgoing chief executive Peter Lawwell saying there is an offer of a playing or coaching contract on the table. As for coaching right now, the midfielder said: “Definitely not.
“It would be premature to say I wanted a coaching role. For me, it is about trying to play for as long as I can.
“Beyond this year I am not 100 per cent sure. “I take it one game at a time and go with the flow. I spoke to Peter about the situation a couple of days ago as well and he says it is completely and utterly up to myself whether I want to stay or go into a coaching role.
“As it stands now, I am here to support John and to try to help the lads as much as I possibly can and see what happens.
“I’ll see if I am still playing and take it from there at the end of the season.
“It’s been hard because you never like to see anyone lose their job, especially when it’s your manager who loves the club and loves everything about it.
“He’s not just a manager to me – he was the one who gave me the chance to still be captain. He supported me through thick and thin.
“He did a lot for me and for a lot of other players that people don’t see.”
It is easy enough just because John was a defender to blame him for the set-plays SCOTT BROWN SAYS FRAILTIES DO NOT FALL AT KENNEDY’S DOOR