If the masterplan for St Johnstone under new ownership was to take the club in a whole new direction, they could hardly have made a more appropriate appointment than Simo Valakari.
The first big call for American businessman Adam Webb after taking charge of the Perth club in the summer was to sack former Scotland manager Craig Levein and replace him with a Finn who has no experience of coaching in Britain.
It was a bold move, which may or may not work out, but the 51-year-old former Motherwell player certainly ticks all the boxes for a club that is aiming to break with tradition. He is as far removed from your average St Johnstone manager as it is possible to be.
For a start, he is the first foreign manager to hold office at the Perth club, whose previous appointments could not be described as adventurous. Under the safe and pragmatic stewardship of the Brown family, they tended to promote from within, stay Scottish or, if they were feeling really exotic, plunder Northern Ireland.
Nor does Valakari’s football bear much resemblance to that of his predecessors. So far, it seems to be bright, positive and designed to win games, a novel package for St Johnstone fans who had come to believe that grinding out results was the only possible path to success.
Even before Levein was alienating supporters with his long balls and low-risk strategy, it often felt as though the first objective for any St Johnstone manager was to avoid defeat, which usually meant hanging in there for an hour and waiting for the game to open up.
New manager Simo Valakari has already captured the imagination of the St Johnstone support
Nicky Clark celebrates scoring a last-minute winner against Dundee at Dens Park on Saturday
Graham Carey savours the moment after equalising for St Johnstone in the Tayside derby
No Saints fan would swap the club’s magical achievements under Tommy Wright and Callum Davidson, but neutrals were never sold on the playing style, which became a habit ingrained in the very culture at McDiarmid Park. It was as though a dash of style and enterprise was too much to ask of a club firmly rooted in its community with a small fanbase and limited resources.
Well, maybe, just maybe, there is another way. Valakari’s team were a goal down to Dundee at half-time on Saturday, but a rousing second-half performance at Dens Park gave them a 2-1 victory. Graham Carey equalised, Nicky Clark scored a last-minute winner — confirmed after a lengthy VAR check — and suddenly, almost miraculously, Saints were in the top six.
It also meant that Valakari had guided St Johnstone to their first back-to-back victories in two years, a damning statistic that says everything about their struggles since winning a cup double in 2021.
Sure, a delay with his work permit meant that he was in the stand for his first two games — a defeat at Ibrox and a 3-0 win at home to Ross County — but there was a noticeable change to the way they played, one that was carried into Saturday’s Tayside derby.
Quite apart from the result, Clark’s winner was Saints’ fifth goal in two games. His team enjoyed nearly two-thirds of the possession and had 20 attempts on goal, a total it normally takes them a month to muster. There is a long way to go, but it’s a step in the right direction.
In short, it looks as though Valakari’s team is going to play with a bit of his personality. Here is a manager who took a public ice bath to inspire supporters during a stint at Tromso. He says and does all the right things, visibly engages with the local community and has already captured the imagination as 1,500 away fans showed on Saturday by chanting his name at full-time.
All of which must be delighting Webb, whose aim is to make St Johnstone that little bit bigger. He wants to gradually increase revenue by attracting more sponsorship income and adding 1,000 spectators to the gate.
In the end, his ability to do that will depend on results, but it helps if he has a manager who is willing to promote the club, improve its image and endear himself to the Perth public. Levein didn’t fall into that category. Valakari certainly does.
Bairns’ rivalry is above par
Not every rivalry is a product of geography. While the city derbies in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee will always attract the biggest hype, there is a lot to be said for those feuds that seem to grow and evolve almost organically.
Ibrox is a long way from Pittodrie, but the hostile relationship between fans of Rangers and Aberdeen will again be apparent during the build-up to the teams’ mouth-watering league clash on Wednesday night.
These are not neighbours and workmates thrown into opposition by dint of their proximity. Aberdeen and Rangers is a rivalry born of historical battles and controversies, a bit like Manchester United’s with Liverpool and Leeds.
Nobody quite knows why Falkirk and Dunfermline have become so keen to beat each other, but theirs is another of the derbies that have developed a life of their own. One theory is that the rivalry was an ice-hockey thing, displaced to the football clubs when Falkirk’s ice rink closed.
Some 7,321 fans — 1,440 from Fife — were at the Falkirk Stadium on Saturday to see the home side win 2-1. Chris Hamilton’s own goal and a Calvin Miller strike put John McGlynn’s side two ahead before Lewis McCann pulled one back.
The teams’ next meeting will be at East End Park on the Friday between Christmas and New Year. It could be a cracker.
Ref has Killie seeing red again
Red cards have been costly for Kilmarnock this season. They received their fifth of the campaign in Dingwall when Liam Donnelly was sent off in a 2-1 defeat at Ross County.
Intriguingly, it was Kilmarnock’s third dismissal in three matches refereed by Matthew MacDermid. He also sent off Brad Lyons against Aberdeen and Joe Wright against St Mirren (when Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes described the officiating as ‘outrageous’).
MacDermid nearly made it four when he red-carded Wright in the closing minutes on Saturday, only for his decision to be overturned by VAR. His next appointment at Rugby Park will be fascinating.