He’s won two cups and steered St Johnstone to fifth place and Europa League qualifiers.
But Callum Davidson is preparing to take charge of his team in front of supporters for the first time since following Tommy Wright into the Perth managerial role last summer.
Saints face Davidson’s former club Preston North End on Tuesday night in the pre-season countdown.
And 1000 lucky season ticket holders will get a chance to hail their cup heroes.
It’s the first-time supporters have been allowed into McDiarmid since a 1-0 win over Livingston 16 months ago preceded the Covid-19 lockdown.
But they won’t be getting a glimpse of the silverware secured in finals with Livingston and Hibs last term.
“This will be the first game in front of fans since I took on the job so I’m really looking forward to it,” admitted Davidson.
“It’s also against my old club, where I spent seven years, and I’ll be seeing some familiar faces.
“It’s great to finally welcome some fans back into the stadium.
“The cups won’t be paraded for this one.
“Let’s wait and see what happens with easing the restrictions over the next few weeks.
“Then we can see where we are in terms of getting more supporters through the doors.
“I know there was strong demand for the 1000 tickets we were allowed for the Preston match, especially after our supporters missed out on the cup wins.
“The club had to hold a ballot and unfortunately that has left some fans disappointed.
“Hopefully we will get the opportunity to get even more in for the game with Fleetwood next weekend.
“For me, it would be great if we can get things opened up for the European games.
“It would be huge to get all the season tickets holders and others in for those big matches.”
Saints beat Stenhousemuir 6-1 in a closed doors game on Saturday.
“Preston will be a different test for us,” said Davidson.
“Over the next four games I want to make sure everyone gets two lots of 90 minutes under their belts.
“We want to put in a good performance but the most important thing at this stage is getting game time into the players.”
Davidson has challenged attacker Jordan Northcott and midfielder Cammy Ballantyne to prove they’re ready for his first team squad.
“Jordan played really well against Stenhousemuir and the likes of him and Cammy will be part of my plans for pre-season,” he said.
“Cammy has played over 70 games for Montrose. He now has to step-up and show myself and the rest of the staff he is ready for this level.”
