Simo Valakari CONFIRMS St Johnstone approach as Riga boss closes in on Perth job

Simo Valakari has confirmed St Johnstone have approached him to be their next manager.

The Riga boss guided his Latvian team to a 1-0 league victory over FK Liepaja on Sunday afternoon, shortly after news broke that he had been identified as the new chief target to take over from Craig Levein at McDiarmid Park.

In the post-match media conference, the 51-year-old was asked if that could have been his last game at the helm?

“I’m Riga FC head coach,” said Valakari.

“They have asked for permission to talk with me.

“The club said ‘yes’.”

The former Motherwell midfielder spoke of his “respect of my players and respect of this game” and was delighted that Riga bounced back from a semi-final cup defeat.

Courier Sport understands that advanced discussions are now progressing quickly with Saints and it is highly likely he will be the Perth club’s next manager.

Valakari is the frontrunner after talks between Saints and Tiernan Lynch collapsed as a result of the Larne manager’s wage demands.

Vast experience

Valakari has arguably the most impressive CV of all the candidates who made the Saints shortlist.

He has extensive experience of British football, having played in midfield at Motherwell for four years and then the same period south of the border at Derby County.

He was capped 32 times by Finland and has also coached for the national team.

In his time at SJK, he first took them into the top flight and then, in 2015, guided the unfancied, small-town Finnish club to the title.

They also won a Finnish Cup and Finnish League Cup before Valakari and the board had different opinions on the direction the club should be moving in and he was lured to Tromso.

After three years in Norway, he returned to Finland with KuPS, where he picked up another two Finnish Cups and was runner-up in the league, by just one point on each occasion.

He has recently been working in Latvia, first with FK Auda, where a spot in the Europa Conference League qualifiers was secured, as had twice been the case at KuPS.

In December, 2023, Valakari made the switch to Riga and won the Latvian Supercup a few months ago.

He has long had a yearning to manage in Britain and was nearly appointed Motherwell boss on two occasions.

Two other Premiership clubs have previously asked for permission to speak with him, being denied both times.