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St Johnstone legend Murray Davidson delivers scathing judgment on former club

The fans' favourite witnessed standards falling before he left McDiarmid Park.

Former St Johnstone player, Murray Davidson, before his last game.
Murray Davidson witnessed the beginning of St Johnstone's slide close-up. Image: SNS.

St Johnstone legend Murray Davidson has given a scathing appraisal of the stewardship of the Perth club over recent years.

The midfielder retired through injury as a player at the end of the 2022/23 season, having been part of the golden era at McDiarmid Park that yielded three cups and sustained league success.

Davidson knew nothing but Premiership football in his time with Saints.

Now, as relegation looms large for Simo Valakari’s side, he has charted the demise back a number of years.

Davidson identified the drop in recruitment standards as laying the foundations for what could soon become a slide into the Championship.

And he made the brutal observation that Saints had gone from the most stable club in Scottish football to the most unstable before Adam Webb bought the club off Geoff Brown.

“I think it’s been building for years,” he told BBC Scotland.

“There were players signed who weren’t good enough – nowhere near good enough.

“The next window it was: ‘We need to sign four or five players’.

“It was a snowball effect, and it went on like that for five or six windows.

“When I was there as a player, that was the beginning.

“In my opinion St Johnstone were the most stable club in Scottish football.

“That was from the chairman – Steve (Brown) and Geoff and the people they had around them.

“The two of them were unbelievable for me and St Johnstone Football Club.

“From them, all the way down to the cleaners, the chefs, the kitchen was so stable.

Murray Davidson given a guard of honour by his St Johnstone team-mates.
Murray Davidson given a guard of honour by his St Johnstone team-mates after his last game. Image SNS.

“You knew what you were going in to work for.

“When I left it was the beginning – I felt like it was the most unstable football club in Scotland.

“Every transfer window there was a core of 13, 14, 15 players. You only had to sign three or four players and be patient.

“The last seven, eight, nine, 10 transfer windows they’ve had to panic buy because they need players.

“It’s difficult when you go back in the summer and there’s 12 new players sitting in the room or whatever it is.”

Valakari must stay

Davidson, who still lives in Perth and has watched several games this season, believes Valakari should keep his job, whatever the circumstances at the end of the season.

“I think they should back the manager whether they get relegated or stay in the league,” he pointed out.

“They need some form of stability because he knows what he’s dealing with.

“If it’s a complete rebuild, he knows what he needs.”

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