Liam Gordon would be “delighted” if Steven MacLean becomes the next St Johnstone manager.
But, after the Perth club secured themselves a 15th successive season in the top flight of Scottish football by beating Kilmarnock 1-0, the captain also wanted to put on record his gratitude for the work put in by Callum Davidson.
“It’s out with my control what happens,” said Gordon on whether the word ‘interim’ will soon be removed from MacLean’s job title.
“But I can tell you right now that every single player in that dressing room is 100% behind Macca, his ways and ideas.
“You can see our recent managers have all had the connections internally.
“It’s been a good recipe for success because people know what the club is about and what’s expected. I’d be delighted if that was the case with Macca.
“But on the flip side, I don’t want to forget what the previous manager did.
“We had a lot of good times under Callum – this season as well – so it’s a special mention for him.
“He messaged me after this win and it was the same for me after the Dundee United game.
“He was away over in sunny Barcelona I think, having a couple of red wines.
“One of the first texts I received was from him saying ‘well done’. I think that shows you the type of man that he is.
“Listen, for me personally it will still hurt, what happened to him. Being a fan, what he gave to the club was amazing.
“He’s one of the best ever servants.
“That will always stay with me.
“The reaction we’ve shown since that’s happened shows that I kind of wanted to do it for him as well.”
Players shared their manager’s confidence
Gordon revealed the Saints dressing room was delighted to hear MacLean express his pre-match faith in them so unequivocally with a ‘we will stay up’ pledge.
“That’s what all the players thought as well,” he said. “It wasn’t just the manager saying that.
“He’s instilled that in all of us. It’s what we all believed.
“He had every right to say that because that was our mindset.
“We knew a lot of people would write us off coming down here. We used it as fuel.
“There was a lot of talk about Kilmarnock’s home form.
“I feel we put all the hard work of the last week into it and showed exactly what we are all about.”
Gordon is relieved that Saints won’t have to endure the play-offs for a second season in a row.
But Killie and Dundee United fans will be happy to hear they won’t let standards slip in Dingwall on Wednesday night.
“It’s nice going into the last week without that issue,” said Gordon.
“But we still want to go to Ross County and get a win, the same with Livingston at home.
“We want to carry on our momentum.”
Gordon added: “In my time here we’ve experienced great times.
“I missed the first Scottish Cup but when I came into it I was in a dressing room with high expectations.
“We were churning out top sixes, Europe, cup wins.
“But you learn more from last season than what we did during the success.
“Maybe that experience stood us in good stead. We knew what it was going to take to get out of trouble.
“We will hope to build on that next season.”
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