DAVIDSON HAS BEEN FLAWLESS... THE BIG CHALLENGE NOW IS TO KEEP HOLD OF McCANN
WHEN I was St Johnstone manager and brought Callum Davidson back to Perth ten years ago, it was primarily for him to play. But at that stage of your career, as I did, you have your eye on the next step.
I was happy to help Callum with access to assist with coaching. He has been a coach, an assistant manager and has done the yards.
Now, as Saints boss, he has a clear identity of what he wants. The system he has implemented allows St Johnstone to always be in the game. They very rarely get stretched and they don’t play off their shape.
Last season, in their double cup-winning campaign, a lot of their defenders scored key goals in big moments. The spread of goals was quite impressive. They didn’t have a centre-forward who was banging in goals every second game.
The team and system becomes even more important. They got off to a tough start last season but Callum had the strength and fortitude to keep believing in what he was doing. He never wavered or changed his system.
Slowly but surely, they started to get their reward for that.
When you play full-backs at wing-back, with such tight lines and being very compact, you will always be difficult to beat — and that’s exactly what they have been. I don’t see it changing any time soon.
The next step for Callum is keeping his better players at the club and dealing with more expectation, which comes with the territory.
In his first job as a manager, to have adapted and set about the task, he has been almost flawless. I’m hugely impressed by him and absolutely delighted for him.
You work for people within clubs and, knowing the St Johnstone board as well as I do, in particular former chairman Geoff Brown, I’m delighted he got to see that type of occasion on Thursday despite the defeat to Galatasaray in their Europa League qualifier. The team delivered for the city of Perth.
It felt like something that everyone has worked so long for. Geoff Brown went through tough times as St Johnstone chairman and now his son, Steve, fills that position. To see how it all played out was great. There are many more highlights for St Johnstone to come this season.
Once again, Ali McCann impressed for Saints. The midfielder has two years left on his contract, so St Johnstone don’t have to sell this season unless they get an offer.
To maximise the sale, they probably should look to sell in the next couple of windows from a business point of view.
Within any successful team, there are two or three players who are elevated. I do think McCann is one of them. I’ve taken numerous calls from colleagues in England over the past six months asking about him. I always wax lyrical about him.
He plays with a tenacity. When he plays in the gear he did on Thursday and he’s not as restricted in his role, I think he’s perfect to go and play in England and at a higher level.
But he is a St Johnstone player, they have been good for him and it has to be on the club’s terms when he does go. It’s a certainty that he will move at some point. His career is going one way.
The performance that caught my eye was when he made his senior debut for Northern Ireland against Austria last year.
I had a couple of friends down in England who were asking me about him. I messaged them afterwards and said: ‘That’s exactly what you’re going to be getting’. His level of performance was outstanding.
The only sad point regarding St Johnstone this week was David Wotherspoon missing out due to him being a close contact of a Covid case. He has been hugely influential in their story over the last few seasons.
It’s a stark reminder that the environment is still so delicate. Wotherspoon is a St Johnstone fan and they missed his quality at times on Thursday. I felt for him.