Simo Valakari has been appointed as the new head coach of St Johnstone.
The Finn, 51, has joined the Scottish Premiership side from FC Riga in Latvia.
The former Motherwell player returns to Scottish football having been linked with several jobs in the past.
He has signed a three-year deal with the McDiarmid Park side.
Valakari's first game in charge of the Perth outfit will not come at Ibrox this weekend with Andy Kirk and Alex Cleland remaining in post for the match against Rangers.
Valakari said of his appointment: “I am very happy, very excited and very proud that St Johnstone have made me their head coach.
“We have so many opportunities to make this an exciting journey and the most important thing is that we are all in this together - the players, the staff and most importantly the fans. We want you, the fans, to engage with us as a team and we can be even more powerful together.
“When I spoke to the owners and the football department I got really excited about this project. I looked at our team as a whole and our players. Of course the results recently have not been as positive as we would like, but I see a lot of potential in the players that we have here.
“That was the first thing for me, we have a potential. Now I look at the process of how we can take our team and our club forward.
“In football there is no time to waste, every minute of training counts, so I am excited to get started. I am looking forward to meeting the players and we will become strong.”
CEO Francis Smith added: “We will continue to review the football department set-up and have already made a slight change with the appointment of Simo.
“Gus MacPherson will now become Head of Football Operations, Scouting and Recruitment. This will allow the head coach to focus on the football and work with Gus to identify any talent that can further enhance the department.”
More to follow.
