“ St Johnstone ” redirects here. For other uses, see Saint Johnstown
Football club
Reading: St Johnstone F.C.
St Johnstone Football Club is a professional football club in Perth, Scotland. The name of the football clubhouse derives from St. John ‘s Toun – the previous name of Perth. Although it is officially recorded as being formed in 1884, the golf club did not play its first game until February 1885. The club ‘s home since 1989 has been McDiarmid Park. The club ‘s first scots Cup appearance was in 1886–87 and they joined the Scottish Football League in 1911–12. St Johnstone won the scottish Football League First Division, the second grade of league football in Scotland, in 2008–09. This gained them promotion to the scots Premier League, bringing a retort of SPL football to McDiarmid Park for the 2009–10 campaign after a seven-year absence. The club have historically floated between the acme two divisions of scottish football, obtaining the repute of being a “ yo-yo club “ ; they are however presently in the top flight for a 13th consecutive season, their longest ever stay in the highest league. Their traditional rivals are the two Dundee clubs, Dundee and Dundee United, with matches between St Johnstone and either Dundee cabaret being called Tayside derbies. The clubhouse had limited achiever in cup competitions for the first 130 years of its history, losing at the semi-final stages on numerous occasions deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as losing two scottish League Cup finals. The club won their foremost scots Cup in 2014 with a 2–0 winnings against Dundee United. In 2020–21, St Johnstone won their first League Cup and second base scottish Cup to complete a historic Cup double. They defeated Livingston 1–0 in the League Cup concluding and Hibernian 1–0 in the scottish Cup final, becoming entirely the moment baseball club outwith the Old firm to win both cups in the lapp season after Aberdeen. They have besides won the scottish Second Tier seven times, the scottish Challenge Cup in 2007, the B Division Supplementary Cup in 1949 and the scottish Consolation Cup in 1911 and 1914. They have qualified for european competitions on seven occasions ( four seasons consecutively from 2013 to 2016 ). Their highest league military position in the top division was third identify on three occasions : 1971, 1999 and 2013. St Johnstone are the merely professional football cabaret in Britain with the letter ‘J ‘ in their name .
history [edit ]
Origins [edit ]
Chart of annual table positions of St Johnstone in the Scottish league. The club was formed by members of the local cricket team seeking to occupy their time once the cricket temper had finished. The cricketers were kicking a football around the South Inch, a bombastic public park beside the River Tay during the fall of 1884. This is widely acknowledged to be the date of the constitution of St Johnstone Football Club, although it was not until early in the follow year that a group of footballers, led by John Colborn, held an official meet that led to the geological formation of the cabaret as a separate entity preferably than a ‘spin-off ‘ of the cricket clubhouse. [ 2 ] football was becoming more popular and although there were respective local teams playing the sport, including Fair City Athletic, Erin Rovers and Caledonian ( based at Perth railroad track place ), it was St Johnstone that became the golf club most associated with the township that gave the golf club its appoint. ( In the Middle Ages, Perth was colloquially known as ‘St John ‘s Toun ‘ because the church at the centre of the parish was dedicated to St John the Baptist. Agnus Dei ( The Lamb of God ), the symbol associated with John the Baptist, is a part of the St Johnstone club badge. ) [ 3 ] Club members leased a piece of land adjacent to the South Inch, known as the Recreation Grounds, which became the club ‘s beginning home. After several decades – and regular problems with flooding – it became clear they had outgrown those grounds so, in 1924, they moved to the early side of Perth and built Muirton Park, which would serve as their home for the following 65 years. [ 2 ]
1886 to 1972 [edit ]
St Johnstone made their debut appearance in the scottish Cup in the 1886–87 tournament but were defeated 7–1 in a beginning round of golf replay by the Erin Rovers club, besides based in Perth, after a 3–3 draw at home. [ 4 ] In the 1910–11 scottish Division Two season, Port Glasgow Athletic F.C. finished following to bottom and declined to apply for re-election. They were replaced for the 1911–12 scottish Division Two season by St Johnstone, who finished fifth in their inaugural season with ten wins and eight defeats. [ 5 ] St Johnstone were promoted to the old First Division in 1924–25, by winning the Second Division title, and appointed David Taylor as team director. They remained in the exceed flight until 1929–30 when they finished bottom of Division One. Two years late, under new coach Tommy Muirhead, the Saints were runner-up in Division Two to gain their second forwarding. They performed well in Division One through the 1930s, reaching the semi-finals of the scots Cup in 1933–34 and finishing fifth in 1932–33 and 1934–35. In the final temper before World War II, St Johnstone played well under director David Rutherford to finish eighth. The scots Football League suspended competition for the duration of the war but sixteen clubs were able to form a regional Southern Football League that managed to operate each season. St Johnstone were closed for most of the war and lost their top flight condition as a consequence. The southerly Football League continued through the post-war 1945–46 season but with two divisions to incorporate clubs that were restarting, including St Johnstone. The Saints played in the 1945–46 B Division and finished sixth of fourteen clubs. [ 6 ] When the Scottish League restarted in 1946, the Southern League set-up was used as the first post-war competition, so the A Division became the new First Division and the B Division the new Second Division. St Johnstone had lost all the ground gained in the 1930s and could lone finish one-ninth in Division Two in 1946–47. Jimmy Crapnell became the team director for the 1947–48 season and was succeeded by Johnny Pattillo for 1953–54. The Saints remained in the Second Division throughout the tenures of these two managers. Bobby Brown took over in the summer of 1958 and, in his second gear season 1959–60, the club last won forwarding again. Brown and his successor Willie Ormond both managed Scotland after leaving St Johnstone. In 1970–71, under Ormond, Saints finished third in the league and qualified for the 1971–72 UEFA Cup .
scots Cup and League Cup [edit ]
The clubhouse historically has had little success in national competitions. Prior to winning the scottish Cup in 2014 its merely cup successes were limited to successes in the Consolation Cup – a contest for clubs knocked out of early rounds of the scottish Cup – in 1911 and 1914. The club have besides appeared twice in the scottish Challenge Cup concluding, losing 1–0 to Stranraer in 1996, and winning the trophy in 2007 with a 3–2 victory over Dunfermline. Saints ‘ scottish Cup acquire came after seven semi-final appearances dating rear to 1934. They have never won the top league. There have been two appearances in the final of the League Cup, losing first to celtic 1–0 in 1969 and 2–1 to Rangers in 1998, with canadian internationalist Nick Dasovic scoring for Saints .
Willie Ormond earned run average [edit ]
In terms of the league, the club ‘s highest-ever finish up has been third place in the honest-to-god First Division, which occurred on three occasions. The first was in 1970–71, when Saints finished behind Celtic and Aberdeen but ahead of Rangers. The team was by and large the 1969 League Cup team, managed by Willie Ormond, who finally went on to manage Scotland. The club had some noteworthy players during this period, who subsequently went on to success at other clubs, e.g. Henry Hall, Alex MacDonald, John Lambie, John Connolly, and Jim Pearson. This third-placed finish led to a european gamble in the UEFA Cup, beating german giants Hamburger SV and Hungarians Vasas Budapest before ultimately going out in Yugoslavia to NK Zeljeznicar Sarajevo. The baseball club continued to play in the top division of the Scottish Football League until reconstruction in 1975, but were relegated from the new Premier Division in its first season. McDiarmid Park ‘s confederacy stand is named the Ormond Stand in his honor .
Relegations and rebuilding [edit ]
It took Saints until 1983 to return to the top flight – albeit for a single season – before setting a record through suffering two consecutive relegations in 1984 and 1985. They finally found themselves buttocks of the entire league in 1986 and skirted with fiscal obliviousness, before local businessman Geoff Brown stepped in. An unprecedented exchange in the club ‘s stress occurred over the following decade or so, with the be active from long-run family Muirton Park to the new purpose-built McDiarmid Park on the outskirts of the city, the first purpose-built all-seater stadium built in the United Kingdom. The fresh stadium was named to recognise the contribution of country by local farmer Bruce McDiarmid. This plus the input of significant transfer funds and the appointee of director Alex Totten spurred Saints through the leagues. They obtained promotion to the First Division in 1988. Saints then won the First Division championship and forwarding to the Premier Division in 1990 during the first temper of football at McDiarmid Park. Saints finished 1990–91 in 7th place, but their season was buoyed by an appearance in the scottish Cup semi-finals, in which they lost to Dundee United. The following temper proved to be Totten ‘s last at the helm, an eighth-placed finish bring to an end his five-year reign as coach. He was succeeded by John McClelland for the 1992–93 temper. The Irishman did n’t fare much better, however, leading the club to 6th station. Another semi-finals cup appearance, this time the League Cup, sweetened the political campaign slenderly. St Johnstone ‘s four-year run in the Premier Division came to an end in 1993–94, a 10th-placed end sending them back to the First Division. McClelland left the club before the season ended, and was replaced by erstwhile Dundee United striker Paul Sturrock .
success in the 1990s [edit ]
Under Sturrock ‘s stewardship, more stress was placed on the cabaret rearing its own players. This hold fruit in the form of Callum Davidson and Danny Griffin. Sturrock besides introduced – at least in principle – the concept of dawn and good afternoon train sessions in an try to raise the fitness level of his players. In Sturrock ‘s first full season in mission, Saints finished 5th in the First Division and reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup. In 1995–96, he led them to fourth place and a scots Cup quarter-final. League success returned in 1996–97 with the First Division championship and a return to the top flight. The cabaret more than held their own in the first season back. Their 5th-placed complete meant they became founder members of the SPL the be season. Although Sturrock soon left for Dundee United, the club found a second ‘golden period ‘ in 1998–99 under new coach Sandy Clark, when the club finished third in the SPL behind Rangers and Celtic. Saints besides reached the final of the League Cup and the semi-finals of the scottish Cup in that season, losing to Rangers in both competitions. They lost to Rangers in five of the six meetings between the two clubs that season ( including a 7–0 home frustration ), but Saints won 3–1 in the early game. [ 7 ] Their coating place in the league intend Saints had qualified for the 1999–00 UEFA Cup political campaign. They started with a 3–1 aggregate succeed in the qualify round off over finnish side VPS Vaasa, but were beaten 6–3 on aggregate by french giants AS Monaco in the first round proper. The return leg meant that external stars such as Fabien Barthez, John Arne Riise and David Trezeguet played at McDiarmid Park. St Johnstone remained unbeaten at home in european competitions until their tie against FC Minsk in 2013 .
The new millennium [edit ]
Matchday at McDiarmid Park After a menstruation of steady decline, the club were finally relegated from the Premier League in 2002. Clark ‘s replacement, Billy Stark, oversaw this delegating, and left the club in 2004 after two seasons of varying success. With the club in eighth place after a inadequate 2004–05 season under Stark ‘s replacement, John Connolly, Owen Coyle took charge in April 2005, ushering in a promise raw period in which St Johnstone earned second-place finishes in 2005–06 and 2006–07. There was besides cup success under Coyle. On 8 November 2006, St Johnstone beat Rangers 2–0 at Ibrox to reach the semi-finals of the League Cup. Steven Milne scored both of the goals. [ 8 ] This was the clubhouse ‘s first victory at Ibrox since April 1971. It was besides the first prison term the club beat Rangers in a cup rival, and the first gear time that Rangers had been eliminated from a major cup competition at home by lower-division opposition. On 31 January 2007, Saints were knocked out of the League Cup at the semi-finals stage by Hibs. [ 9 ] On 14 April 2007, St Johnstone were beaten 2–1 by Celtic at Hampden in the semi-finals of the scots Cup. By then Coyle ‘s name was being linked with managerial vacancies in the SPL. On 21 April 2007, second-placed Saints won 3–0 at home to Queen of the South, while table-toppers Gretna played out a scoreless draw against the visit Clyde, which put the Perth club just one point ( and seven goals ) behind Gretna. As a result, the First Division championship was to be decided on the final day of the season. [ 10 ] Seven days by and by, St Johnstone were pipped to the First Division championship by Gretna, who had led the division for the majority of the season. Saints won 4–3 at Hamilton Academical, [ 11 ] but James Grady scored an injury-time achiever for Gretna at Ross County [ 12 ] minutes after the St Johnstone game had finished. The results maintained Gretna ‘s one-point lead and they achieved promotion to the Premier League under former Saints musician Davie Irons. Owen Coyle left the club on 22 November 2007, to become coach of English clubhouse Burnley. Saints following game, the Challenge Cup Final against Dunfermline three days late, saw them win their first cup since the scottish Consolation Cup of 1911, with a 3–2 victory. [ 13 ] St Johnstone midfielder Derek McInnes was appointed as Coyle ‘s replacement as coach on 27 November 2007, [ 14 ] after Coyle ‘s assistant, Sandy Stewart, who had been in bang in a caretaker-manager capacity for the Challenge Cup Final, decided to follow Coyle south to Burnley. McInnes began as a player-manager. Results to the end of 2007 continued the indifferent shape shown under Coyle, leaving St Johnstone in third base place, some means behind the leaders. In 2008 the club did, however, reach the semi-finals of the scots Cup for the second back-to-back temper, losing out to Rangers on penalties after extra time. [ 15 ] It was the club ‘s one-seventh appearance in the semi-finals, and their seventh defeat. On 2 May 2009, Saints perplex Greenock Morton 3–1 at McDiarmid Park to clinch the First Division title and a restitution to the Premier League after a seven-year absence. [ 16 ] They finished one-eighth in their first gear season back. In November 2011, on the like day the baseball club announced the appointment of coach Steve Lomas, it was besides announced that club president Geoff Brown, the longest-serving chair in Scottish football, was retiring and consequently stepping down from his post. His son, Steve, was handed control of the club. In June 2013 Steve Lomas left the club to manage Millwall and Tommy Wright was appointed as his refilling. In his first competitive game in charge, Wright lead St Johnstone to a 1–0 victory against Rosenborg BK in Norway. This was the club ‘s first away win in Europe in over 40 years. [ 17 ]
The Golden Age : Tommy Wright, Callum Davidson and Cup glory [edit ]
On 13 April 2014, St Johnstone reached their first-ever scottish Cup Final, after defeating aberdeen 2–1 in the semi-final at Ibrox Stadium. [ 18 ] They won the concluding against Tayside rivals Dundee United on 17 May, 2–0 at Celtic Park. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] The golf club won its second major cup seven years late, defeating Livingston 1–0 in the February 2021 Scottish League Cup Final. Shaun Rooney scored the only goal of the bet on. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] Later that temper, St Johnstone won its second scottish Cup, defeating Hibernian 1–0, with Shaun Rooney again scoring the entirely goal of the game in the 32nd moment, the same clock time as his achiever in the League Cup Final. [ 23 ] This victory meant St Johnstone had become the beginning team outside of the Old tauten to win a cup double since Aberdeen in 1990, and beating 10,000/1 odds to do so. [ citation needed ] St Johnstone besides qualified for Europe for the sixth time in ten seasons, having merely qualify doubly before in their history. In the club ‘s longest-ever move in the top fledge, they have finished no lower than 8th, including a ply of six straight seasons in the top six from 2012 to 2017. [ 24 ]
european record [edit ]
St Johnstone have qualified for the UEFA Europa League ( once the UEFA Cup ) on seven occasions. The furthest they have progressed is the third base beat, which occurred in 1971–72, their debut season in the tournament .
- Notes
- 1R: First round
- 2R: Second round
- 3R: Third round
- QR: Qualifying round
- 1Q: First qualifying round
- 2Q: Second qualifying round
- 3Q: Third qualifying round
local rivals [edit ]
St Johnstone share a Tayside competition with both Dundee and Dundee United. It was against the former on New Year ‘s Day 1997 that they recorded their biggest league win in late memory, 7–2.
Read more: Lille OSC
Players [edit ]
current squad [edit ]
- As of 31 August 2021[25]
note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .
On loan [edit ]
note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .
noteworthy players [edit ]
For a list of all St Johnstone players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:St Johnstone F.C. players. In October 2013, the club inducted the first five members to its “ Hall of Fame ” intended to formally recognise those who have made a significant contribution to the club. Those inducted were John Brogan, Joe Carr, Willie Coburn, Roddy Grant and Henry Hall. The inaugural consequence took place at a dinner ceremony at Perth Concert Hall. [ 27 ]
Club staff [edit ]
Directors [edit ]
Position
Staff
Owner
Geoff Brown
Chairman
Steve Brown
Vice-Chairman
Charlie Fraser
Director
Roddy Grant
Associate Director
Alan Storrar
Senior Executive
Peter Louden
source : [ 28 ]
Coaching staff [edit ]
Position
Staff
Manager
Callum Davidson
Coaches
Alec Cleland
Steven MacLean
Goalkeeping Coach
Paul Mathers
Head of Football Operations
Scott Boyd
Head of Recruitment
Stevie Grieve
Head of Youth Development
Alastair Stevenson
Club Doctor
Peter Davies
Physiotherapist
Melanie Stewart
Sports Scientist
Alex Headrick
Groundsman
Chris Smith
Kitman
Graeme Robertson
informant : [ 29 ] [ 30 ]
Honours [edit ]
league [edit ]
Scottish second tier league titles [ 31 ]
cup [edit ]
Scottish Cup
Scottish League Cup
Scottish Challenge Cup
B Division Supplementary Cup
Scottish Consolation Cup
Doubles [edit ]
- Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup: 2020–21
managerial history [edit ]
St Johnstone has had 25 full-time managers in its history. The longest-serving coach was David Rutherford ( 11 years ), although his tenure was interrupted by the second World War. The club has, on median, appointed a newly coach every four years. Willie Ormond and Bobby Brown both left “ Saints ” to manage the Scotland national team .
Prior to Peter Grant ‘s appointment in 1919, the team was picked by committee – a practice in across-the-board use at the time .
Below is a number of all of St Johnstone ‘s shirt sponsors :
source
Statistics [edit ]
Records [edit ]
team [edit ]
individual [edit ]
source
average attendances [edit ]
Past averages:
reservoir
far reading/bibliography [edit ]
- Bannerman, Gordon (1991). Saints Alive! St Johnstone Football Club Five Years on a High. Sportsprint Publishing, Edinburgh. ISBN 0-85976-346-3.
- Blair A, Doyle B (1997). Bristling with Possibilities: The History of St Johnstone F.C.
- Blair, Alastair (2003). St. Johnstone FC (Images of Sport). Tempus Publishing, Limited. pp. 128pp. ISBN 0-7524-2183-2.
- Blair A, Doyle B (2015). Manifest Destiny: The History of St Johnstone F.C.
- McLaren, G (2001). Of Saints & Foxes. G McLaren. ISBN 0-905452-99-2. The story of Sandy McLaren (St Johnstone, Leicester City and Scotland national football team goalkeeper), written by his son.
- Slater, Jim. Who’s Who of St Johnstone 1946 to 1992.