Born within a month of each other, the careers of Callum Davidson and Stephen Glass have often run in parallel.
Both came on to the Scottish football scene in 1994 at the clubs they would end up managing and both earned big money moves to England in 1998.
Ironically, Aberdeen used the £1.75m transfer fee Blackburn Rovers paid St Johnstone for Davidson to help their case in the tribunal to determine the amount Newcastle United would give them for their departing star midfielder.
The Dons got £600,000.
Saturday’s Pittodrie clash between Aberdeen and Saints will be the first time Davidson and Glass have come up against each other as head coaches but they have already clashed on six occasions as players.
Courier Sport traces their head-to-head history.
And the good news for Saints fans is that their man has only lost once.
Saints v Aberdeen
The two men were on opposite sides on a couple of occasions in the 1997/98 season after Paul Sturrock’s team had secured promotion.
The McDiarmid Park clash in early October ’97 was won by Saints 1-0, thanks to a John O’Neil goal, while a couple of months later a late Roddy Grant strike cancelled out David Rowson’s opener.
Davidson and Glass played the full 90 minutes in the fixtures but they would next meet again in the English Premier League.
Blackburn Rovers v Newcastle United
As well as the two league meetings, these sides faced each other in both cups in the first full season Davidson and Glass played down south, 1998-99.
The League Cup tie, in which Glass was taken off early in the second half and Davidson was introduced as a 72nd minute substitute, ended 1-1 after Alan Shearer and Tim Sherwood found the net.
Blackburn won 4-2 on penalties.
A wee reminder that Callum Davidson was a very handy player in his time… here’s his goal of the season contender in the English Premier League in 98-99 for Blackburn… pic.twitter.com/KYZVbf4pz0
— Peter Munro (@peterSLmunro) May 22, 2021
Both league games were drawn (0-0 at Ewood Park and 1-1 at St James’ Park).
Newcastle emerged victorious in the FA Cup match in between but Glass didn’t play that day, which was also the case in a league match in 1999-2000, the season Blackburn were relegated.
Leicester City v Newcastle
After Davidson’s transfer to Filbert Street there was one further game between the two Scots in 2001.
On this day in 2001 a goal by Carl Cort was enough to give Newcastle United a 1-0 win over Leicester City at St James Park.
Carl Cort pic.twitter.com/lEksuqK5Ac
— Rob NUFC 1892 (@Rob23013172) April 28, 2020
A Carl Cort 90th minute goal, deflected off Gary Rowett, earned Newcastle three points and made sure that the Saints boss wouldn’t be going into this weekend’s Pittodrie fixture with an unbeaten record against Glass.
