Newly appointed St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari has outlined his vision to turn McDiarmid Park into a fortress again. And he has first-hand experience of the hardy Saints sides of old - the former Motherwell player suffered a 5-0 thumping on his last visit in October 1998.
Sandy Clark’s side went on to finish third that season, qualifying for the UEFA Cup and reaching the League Cup final, narrowly losing out to Dick Advocaat’s Rangers. The Dutchman was the first non-Scottish manager to be in the dugout at Ibrox; now, St Johnstone have appointed their first foreign manager in the club's 140-year history.
Valakari was unveiled as the new head coach on Tuesday following Craig Levein’s departure a fortnight ago. The 51-year-old joins from FC Riga in Latvia and has penned a three-year-deal, keeping him at the club until 2027.
Recalling his visits to Perth as a Motherwell player – for whom he played over 100 games – Valakari said: “It’s as I remember, a big field. It was never ever easy to come here when I was a player. It was always a good match.
“Those players, you know, they always kept you on your toes. They would put their shoulder into you, that sort of thing. They made it horrible to play against.
“Players are different now, football is different. But that's what we should have in our team. We play against Rangers next but they should know that they are in for a hell of a game from a St Johnstone team. We won’t always win and it won’t always be as beautiful as we want it. But we can always make sure we are difficult to play against.”
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The former Finland international will not be in charge for the trip to Ibrox on Sunday as the club are still awaiting the arrival of a work permit, with Andy Kirk and Alex Cleland remaining in post for the time being.
It has been a tumultuous start to the season for St Johnstone, who have lost five of their opening seven games. They were pummelled in Perth by Celtic last weekend and are without a win here since December. “We need to change this,” Valakari said. “We need to change this. It's our job to get the fans here, get the fans excited, to help us.”
Discipline issues have compounded the club’s on-field woes, with striker Adama Sidibeh missing all of September after receiving a four-game ban for his double red card against Dundee United. Benjamin Kimpioka was sent off in the 90th minute in the 2-0 defeat to Hibernian, the third game in a row St Johnstone have been reduced to 10 men in the closing stages of matches.
Valakari – who guided SJK to top-flight promotion before winning the club’s first-ever Finnish League title in 2015 – knows he needs to hit the ground running in Perth.
“In football people have a short memory,” he said. “So, it doesn't matter how we feel now. We need to feel the same after a number of games.”
He continued: “One of the reasons I love the Scottish fans is that they let you know if things aren’t going well. There are no excuses not to win football matches.”
The former Derby County midfielder had a three-year stint at Tromso in Norway before returning to his homeland, where he won the Latvian Supercup with FC Riga last season.
Now Valakari – who has been eyeing up a return to Scotland for some time – feels his breadth of experience can rebuild confidence at McDiarmid Park.
“In Norway, I went to Tromso. It was halfway through the season, so less games left, and we survived. That was the first thing we needed to do.
“I was head coach for one Finnish club [SJK] for years. The owner was very ambitious, we started the in second division, and our goal was to take the team to Europe, win the championship.
“We did first year promotion, second year [we finished] second, and third year [we won the] championship. And then the fourth year we won the cup.
“I have helped build a club and been in a position where it’s ‘now we need to get the results,’ “The key is to get the players believing that we can do it, get the players believing that we are a team, contributing for this team effort, and then clarifying, simplifying some things, what we do on the field.
“When I say simplifying I don’t mean booting the ball up the pitch. It’s about knowing where our players are when we have a ball, what are the triggers when we start pressing and defending. Roles have to be clear.”
The manager says he is excited to work under the new ownership who took over the Perth club in July, after almost four decades under the Brown family.
“The biggest question I asked the owners was that they are here for long term and building really the club,” Valakari said.
“They want to make this club better, and that's very important for me. I could have stayed where I was or taken other jobs. But there was not this spark, you know, that I felt with this one.
“I can come here and change the things, build up, leave my own mark.
“We have a history, and we are not ground zero but it is a fresh start under new owners.
“We have a chance to say: ‘these are our values of the club, culture of the club, things like that’.”
