Owen Coyle knows all about the power of personality.
The gear change at St Johnstone when he took over from John Connolly as McDiarmid Park manager was enormous.
Coyle, then just 38, resuscitated the Perth club after three-and-a-bit seasons of toil and put down the foundations for a golden era.
Three trophies at the end of the rainbow might be a bit much to ask in terms of a pot of gold this time around.
But he believes his old Motherwell team-mate, Simo Valakari, will have a similarly transformative impact in the Fair City as he produced back in 2005.
Coyle is in no doubt that this is a “brilliant fit”.
“I totally understand that,” Coyle told Courier Sport when asked about the need for a charismatic leader to breathe life into St Johnstone.
“Absolutely 100%.
“When we came in, St Johnstone were near the bottom of the Championship and weren’t mathematically safe.
“The club were in a lull and I had a huge job to do on a relatively low budget.
“We needed to create something the supporters could get behind.
“Eventually, by the time I left there was a good platform that the guys who came after could build on – Derek (McInnes), Steve (Lomas), and then Tommy (Wright) and Callum (Davidson) with the three cup wins.
“We need to get St Johnstone back moving upwards again – I say ‘we’ because I’m still invested. I still love the club. I had an amazing time there.
“The time is right for someone like Simo, who has fresh ideas.
“He knows what to do. He just needs to be given the time and tools to implement those ideas and make this his St Johnstone.
“He can elevate the club and himself.”
Passionate support
Coyle, who currently manages Chennaiyin in India, added: “He’s joined a brilliant club, which I know very well.
“I’ve always heard people say: ‘Oh, but St Johnstone don’t have as big a support as this club or the other’.
“Who cares.
“St Johnstone are a Premiership club with good people and a passionate support. The people of Perth and the surrounding area love their club.
“They’ve got a really good manager who can take them on.
“I’m delighted for Simo that he’s back in Scotland and chuffed to bits that it’s at a club so close to my heart.
“I think it’s a brilliant fit.
“He’ll totally understand the core principles and values that St Johnstone stand for.
“Hopefully, next time I’m back I can get to a game because Simo is somebody I’ve got so much time for. You want good people to do well.”
Team ethic
Coyle believes Valakari’s principles as a player, which he admired when they shared a Fir Park dressing room over 20 years ago, underpin the success he has subsequently enjoyed in three countries as a manager.
“When I played with Simo at Motherwell, I had so much time for him,” said the 58-year-old.
“He was obviously an outstanding player, which was important to us then. But it’s not important now.
“What’s important is being a very good head coach for St Johnstone – which he will be.
“Simo has done well in his own country and abroad, which is a big thing.
“He’s coming with a very good pedigree.
“I always thought that the way he played would help him become an excellent coach.
“The big, big thing was he was a team player. He was an international but his focus was on the team and he has transmitted that into coaching.
“That is so important. A lot of people don’t understand just how big a factor that is in being successful in management.
“The reasons we go into coaching when we finish playing are personal to all of us.
“Simo wasn’t a player you’d say: ‘He’s the life and soul of the party’. That was probably down to myself and a few others! But he was part of it. He was always at the team events.
“It was on the field and in the dressing room before games and at half-time when you need players to stand up, and Simo was definitely one of those.
“If we lost or played poorly, he would have his say.
“It certainly didn’t surprise me when he became a coach.
“He was always a student of the game. He asked questions of the manager.
“He was a coach’s dream because he took on the information.
“Something Alex MacDonald said at Airdrie stuck with me: ‘You only have to tell good players once’.
“Simo knew what coaches were asking of him and has probably developed his ideas off the back of that.
“You wanted him in the team with you.”
Give him time
The key word for the St Johnstone owners and supporters to ensure Valakari has the chance to make the impact Coyle expects from him is “patience”.
“Simo showed in his playing career he could move through the levels,” he said.
“He’s done very well at the clubs he’s already been at but the profile of the Scottish Premiership, with Rangers and Celtic in it, is higher.
“That will be one of the reasons he’s come.
“It gives him an opportunity.
“He’ll need a bit of time.
“People will have to understand he’s inheriting a group of players, some of whom might not be his type and have the requirements he needs.
“He’ll get patience in Perth. St Johnstone will reap the rewards of that. I’ve no doubt that he’s the right man for the job.”
What would Geoff do?
The first foreign manager of St Johnstone has been appointed by the first foreign owner of St Johnstone.
But Coyle believes that if Geoff Brown had seen Valakari’s CV, he may well have come to the same conclusion as Adam Webb at the end of the recruitment process to replace Craig Levein.
“It’s a departure in terms of Geoff never having appointed a foreign coach,” said Coyle.
“What he did do was appoint really good people.
“I can’t say that that the chairman – I still call him that – wouldn’t have appointed Simo.
“When he saw the names he’d have realised here’s a really good manager who ticks all the boxes.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re Scottish, Irish or Finnish. It’s about who is the right man at this time and for me, that’s 100% Simo.”
A day he’d want to forget
Coyle’s ability to recall matches he played in is legendary.
So the day he and Valakari lost 5-0 to Saints in 1998, with George O’Boyle scoring from near the McDiarmid Park centre-circle, hasn’t been erased from his memory.
“George was a fantastic player,” said Coyle.
“He was a complete striker. Luggy loved him. When the ball was played into him he could get the ball to either side with one touch – a lot of strikers need two.
“It gave the wide players a couple of extra seconds.
“There wouldn’t have been a season George scored more than me, though. Don’t worry about that!”
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