MAY the force be with us
Saints intend to get the very best out of a striker who has been a shining light for them already in his career
WITH Callum Davidson and Steven MacLean by his side, Stevie May struck 27 times in one season and blossomed into a £1million Scotland cap.
Six years and only 25 May goals later, the trio are reunited at St Johnstone.
Davidson, assistant to Tommy Wright in that sensational Scottish Cup-winning campaign for May, is back as manager and plotting to relight the fire in his star striker.
Recruiting his old goalscoring partner MacLean from 2013/14 as first-team coach is central to the plan. He is hoping MacLean can help May recapture the prolific form that saw him clinch a transfer to Sheffield Wednesday then make his Scotland debut as a substitute under Gordon Strachan against England in 2014.
A season in South Yorkshire followed by two injury-hampered campaigns with Preston made for an unproductive spell in the English game. After eight goals for Aberdeen in 75 appearances, May returned to Perth last term.
Five of his seven goals for Saints
were scored this side of the winter break before the abrupt end to the season prevented him from providing further proof of his well-being.
Through the long weeks of his close season, Davidson is scheming for that form to resume.
He will steer his St Johnstone side towards playing to the predatory strengths of May and restoring the 27-year-old to the status of one of the country’s top-scoring attackers.
‘I remember watching Stevie a few times in England and he was doing too much, rather than staying in the box scoring goals,’ said Davidson. ‘Sometimes he actually works too hard for the rest of the team, running everywhere.
‘Our job is to get him shooting again. When I was here, he used to shoot from everywhere. So we have to get him in the right positions again because he’s got the quality to score goals.
‘I’m hoping he scores 20 goals next season. We’ll have won a watch if that happens.
‘It’s about getting him to that level again. I think he can do it. Hopefully with the team behind him, we can push Stevie forward.
‘He can recapture the kind of form he had when I was last here, he’s got the potential to do that. He’s our main striker.
‘But there are four or five of them who can go on to bigger and better things.’
MacLean is back at McDiarmid Park after two seasons with Hearts, which featured a brief loan spell at
Raith Rovers, to join mainstay Alex Cleland on Davidson’s backroom team.
He will specifically be charged with teasing the best out of not only his pal May, but fellow forwards Callum Hendry, Chris Kane and Michael O’Halloran.
Davidson explained: ‘We’ve a few good young ones, too, and that was part of my thought process with Macca — I wanted someone in on the attacking side.
‘For the strikers, it’s a massive plus to have someone like Steven MacLean working with them. I think he’ll be very good.
‘Macca is at a similar age to me when I hung up my boots at 37. However, I saw him run the other day and he could probably still play. He’s really fit and he’s got that enthusiasm.
‘When I worked with him, he used to coach players within the games.
He’s always had that and he is really excited about moving on to the next stage in his career. He’s got a great knowledge of the game.
‘I used to speak to him all the time about strikers, their movement and how they play.
‘When I was assistant here, he was always talking to the strikers. When you put a training session on, Macca was always the first person to get it. The first to understand what was going on.
‘You could see his brain working on the training pitch, he was brilliant. So he’s got that and I want to help him develop that.
‘Steven has that winning mentality and that’s the type of character I want. You don’t want people who are nice and easy to get on with or players like that.
‘I want competitive players and staff who challenge me. Most of the players here have played with Steven, so they do know what he is like.
‘He’s also got this club’s mentality within him. He knows what type of club St Johnstone are — a hard-working club. That won’t change. That will run right through the staff and the squad.’
Davidson (below) is only a fortnight into his first managerial gig, undaunted by taking over from the hugely successful and popular Wright who consistently overachieved during his seven seasons with Saints.
In order to keep the club’s excellent record of managerial appointments intact, he will draw on his experience as assistant to Wright and, in England, for Gary Rowett at Stoke City and Millwall.
And from his playing days, he can call upon enviable time and lessons learned spent working under the likes of Paul Sturrock, Roy Hodgson, Billy Davies and Alan Irvine.
‘Roy Hodgson was great on the tactical side, he was so thorough and went into so much detail on shape and organisation,’ said Davidson of his Blackburn boss.
‘And then later on, there was the likes of Billy Davies and Alan Irvine. Alan was so honest and just told you as it was whether you liked it or not. That was quite refreshing.
‘Billy had a great desire to win every game and that showed in his attitude to training. There’s a lot to pick from.
‘And working with Tommy, Gary and Gordon Strachan as well, they were just as big an influence on learning how to manage situations I wasn’t used to as a player.’
If we can get him scoring 20 goals next term we’ll have won a watch
I want competitive players and staff who challenge me, like Steven will