Davidson returns to Saints as their new boss

Callum Davidson feels challenging himself as a coach in England has helped him return to St Johnstone as manager.

The 43-year-old left McDiarmid Park in 2018 following five years as Tommy Wright’s assistant to take up a coaching role with Stoke.

The new job only lasted six months until Gary Rowett, his former Leicester team-mate, was sacked as manager.

However, Davidson this season reunited with Rowett to become Millwall assistant manager and the pair helped the Lions move from relegation contenders to serious play-off hopefuls in the Championship.

The former Scotland left-back admitted it was tough to leave south London just ahead of the resumption of their promotion push but one phone call from Saints chairman Steve Brown convinced him to succeed Wright and start his managerial career at the club where he began and ended his playing life.

Davidson, who also had a spell working with Scotland manager Gordon Strachan, said of leaving Perth for England second time around: “It was good for me because I worked with Tommy for five years and it was his management style.

“Working under Gordon and Gary, they had different styles. What it showed me was that not one style works. It’s basically what style you are comfortable doing, and that’s what I will find out myself when I get into the job.

“That’s probably the biggest thing, not to copy somebody, it’s just to be yourself and manage the way you want to do it.

“It would have been easy for me to stay but I wanted to challenge myself. That’s why I am here now.”