St Johnstone’s ownership have shown their intent to break from the status-quo with their latest managerial appointment. Not only is Simo Valakari the club’s first-ever foreign manager - he also wins trophies.
The Finn has won six major honours over his 14-year managerial career - one with FC Riga in Latvia and five in Finland – representing a shift from previous manager Craig Levein who has never tasted silverware.
With Aberdeen revelling in a perfect start to the season under Swedish head coach Jimmy Thelin, could the arrival of another foreign manager represent a shift in Scottish football's managerial landscape?
Saints striker Nicky Clark - who is set to play under his fifth manager at the Perth club since February 2023 - says he is looking forward to working under a different profile of manager. “It's a clean slate for everybody,” he said. “Everybody's back to square one and everybody's on the same level.
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“It's just about going out and performing on the training pitch to get noticed and let the manager see what you can do. That's what everybody's doing.
“We’ve had a really good couple of sessions. Tough but very good, everybody was on it. Hopefully that’s exciting times ahead and we can show it out on the pitch.
“He's come in and we had a good meeting about the way he wants to play. Hopefully it works and it'll be exciting and hopefully we get success from it."
Over the past 18 months, the ex-Rangers and Dundee United player has worked under Callum Davidson, Steven MacLean, Alex Clelland and Craig Levein.
“I’ve had a fair few managers now,” he said. “It's obviously difficult when you see somebody losing their job.
“Then someone new comes in, it’s a wee boost that lifts everybody and a new kind of energy about the place.
“I’m looking forward to it. It's not just the usual merry-go-round, you know, Scottish football, somebody loses a job and they're in another one a few weeks later.
“It's somebody outwith it who nobody really knows. But, looking at his career so far, it's a successful one in Europe.
“So, you take it from that if you want, but it's good for a player to see that he's won trophies at previous clubs.
“That’s not me saying we’re going to win a trophy now, that’s very difficult. But I think he'll be very good and the way he’s talking, it should be exciting.”
Saints are keen to bounce back from last weekend’s 6-0 humbling at the hands of Celtic, with Adama Sidibeh set to return to action for Sunday’s trip to Ibrox after serving his four-game ban.
The 26-year-old Gambian international was sent off for two yellow cards against Dundee United, before receiving a second red card for clashing with Kevin Holt.
“Obviously, [Adama] has just come into a different kind of environment and level of football that he hadn't really been used to,” said Clark. “He been brought for his goals and the ones he scored towards the end of last season were huge for us.
“He's still learning. He’s 26 but a young 26. He's still got a lot to learn and there's good, experienced boys up there that will help him and he's willing to listen.
“Centre halves, in particular, will try to wind him up, they’ve seen that.
“And it's the same as the set-pieces, for example, people have seen us losing goals from set-pieces or they're going to throw the ball in a box to make it. Because they think that's a weak point, so it's the same for Adama. But he needs to go and show that he's learned his lesson and he doesn't need to come up with something like that again.
“He’s an exciting player, as you've seen. He’s got bags of pace and that frightens the defence and he can score, so as a striker, that's kind of the biggest things that you really want.
“Obviously, we've missed him for the last few weeks, but he's good to go.
“He’s worked really hard in training during the weeks when he's not been able to play on a Saturday and now he’s back.
“He’s looked well in training and just scored an unbelievable goal on Wednesday. Hopefully he keeps one in for Sunday as well.”
New head coach Valakari will be watching on from the stands at Ibrox on Sunday as he awaits the arrival of a work permit.
