‘One of our own’ will likely go down as the greatest Saint – ever

Murray Davidson’s testimonial dinner took place on Saturday night, with fans, current and former team-mates, staff and management taking the opportunity to recognise a decade and more of stellar service in the name of St Johnstone Football Club.

Hearing Craig Brown speak about the enormity of the Perth midfielder’s achievement in becoming the most recent Saints player to be capped for Scotland six years ago was a reminder of how difficult it has proved to be for someone excelling in his work on a pitch at Muirton or Mcdiarmid Park to get dark blue rather than royal blue on his back.

Davidson ended an 80year drought after all.

Had David Wotherspoon not opted to throw his lot in with the country of his mother’s birth, there’s every chance he too would have joined a worthy band of players like Dave Mackay, Jason Kerr and Zander Clark to be overlooked for a Scotland cap when at the peak of their powers.

It was to Steve Clarke’s shame that the doublewinning season didn’t change a narrative Saints supporters have long since taken as a given.

International accolades have to come from elsewhere.

And, Wotherspoon earning a place in the Canadian squad for the World Cup goes straight to the top of the accomplishments in this particular field.

Jason Scotland was the first to put a St Johnstone flag in the uncharted turf, when he was called up for Trinidad and Tobago back in 2006.

There was pride in Perth, of course, but a nomadic striker who had played 31 times in the second tier of Scottish football was about as far removed from “one of our own” as it comes.

Wotherspoon, on the other hand, is the embodiment of the description.

He was a school pupil in the city, a supporter of the club he would go on to play for with unparalleled distinction as the only man to start three cup finals (not to mention win them all), and he’s the master of a skill that has been revered and adored like no other.

Canadians haven’t seen the full Spoony repertoire in all its glory.

But the fact they have taken him to their hearts accentuates the collective joy in and around the Fair City that John Herdman has rewarded Wotherspoon’s contribution to many an international double or triple-header over a long qualifying campaign and that the head coach has invested faith he can be relied upon in the heat of battle in Qatar.

There’s a title of first St Johnstone footballer to play at a World Cup still to be claimed.

And with it, is likely to go the title of the greatest ever Saint.

David Wotherspoon may soon be the first Saint to play in a World Cup.