Bold calls pay off as boss does it his way

One of the most important characteristics in a first-time manager is being true to himself.

Not as easy as it sounds. Think about it.

You spend your whole career to that point working under head coaches of all shapes and sizes, knowingly and subconsciously absorbing techniques and traits along the way.

Then, in Steven Maclean’s case at St Johnstone, you’re thrust into an interim position with the most recent and relevant methods being those of the man you shared an office and dugout with for the best part of three years.

Loyalty will be as primal an instinct as attempting to forge an untrodden path.

So, yes, being your own man takes a bit of effort.

Maclean has certainly pulled it off.

The formation change for his first game against Hibs was a good start.

So too the higher pressing and the subtle shift in the way he wanted Saints to build play from the back, both of which continued into the clash with Dundee United and the first half of the Motherwell match.

Only in the second 45 of the latter did it feels as if the Davidson-maclean lines were blurring.

Then came the Tuesday afternoon pre-kilmarnock press conference bravado.

If anything screamed ‘Steven Maclean’ this was it.

When there was a target to be hit – often before Saints played Derek Mcinnes’s Aberdeen, ironically – Maclean was often the player Tommy Wright tasked with getting a certain message out there.

Now in Wright’s role, he was confident, brash and verging on the provocative if you’re watching and reading from inside the Kilmarnock camp.

Putting in tablets of stone that Saints would stay up with no ifs, buts and maybes was high-risk stuff. It split opinion in the fan base – the phrase ‘John Hughes vibes’ became a thing again on Twitter.

But, most importantly, the players loved it and there might just have been a bit of pre-match mind games success garnered.

Important. Not as important as arguably the biggest ‘this is my team now’ statement of them all, though. The selection of Cammy Ballantyne.

I’ve tried but I’m struggling to think of a greater risk and reward starting XI decision in recent years.

Yes, Dan Phillips and Melker Hallberg were injured but there were far safer options still available to Maclean than pitching in a player for his first Premiership start with his most recent memory of competitive football being as far back as the start of January. In League One.

Brash talk in midweek and now the boldest of calls on game day.

Although Saints didn’t get a second goal to kill this game off, the intent was there. That too should resonate.

It should all get Maclean the job of St Johnstone manager.

Showing faith in youth at a time when there are a few promising youngsters breaking through; showing you can talk the talk and back it up by walking the walk; showing you can get your team to win games of football by balancing calm and passion when the pressure is intense.

Those are significant boxes ticked.

Amid off-pitch uncertainty with either a change of ownership, change of stewardship, both and neither all still possible, Saints need certainty at the top of their football department.

There’s a pretty big summer ahead in terms of squad reshaping and, likely, budget-trimming.

Maclean has done everything his way so far. He should now be trusted to put his stamp on top flight season number 15.

This already feels like a new era.