St Johnstone Premiership survival hero Dimitar Mitov believes the Adam Webb takeover will start an “exciting new chapter” for the Perth club.
US lawyer, Webb, is set to buy Geoff Brown’s controlling stake at McDiarmid Park.
He already has a 10% share of Cambridge United, where Mitov played his football before heading to Scotland last summer.
So the Bulgarian international is well-placed to give an insight into the type of club Webb will look to build over the next few years.
“I’ve seen him a couple of times but we never actually had a one to one conversation,” said Mitov.
“What the owners have done at Cambridge has been amazing.
“They really connected the supporters with the club.
“It was a very happy environment.
“They built new facilities – bought back the stadium and created a new training ground.
“Everything they have done brought supporters closer to the club and helped attract players.
“A new owner is a huge step for this football club.
“It will take some time for him to make things happen – we can’t expect everything straight away – but hopefully things will keep improving here.
“It’s an exciting new chapter for fans and the players.”
Defining moment
Mitov has been Saints’ player of the year by a distance.
His penalty save from Theo Bair was arguably the most important moment of the last day head to head with Ross County, when homework and agility combined to season-defining effect.
“Myself and Nicky (Clark) travelled to the stadium together and he was saying that I was due a penalty save,” said Mitov.
“Me, Hinchy (goalkeeping coach, Craig Hinchliffe) and the other goalkeepers do a lot of research on penalty takers – how they run up to the ball, how they strike the ball, where they put it.
“The boy made it really easy for us because he has gone the same way all the time.
“But to be fair to him he hits it really low and really hard so I had to go a little bit early.
“I managed to get a good hand to it and I was really happy because if it had gone to 1-1 it would have been a completely different game.
“I wanted to play my part in such an important match.
“I’d totally forgotten that I saved one in the League Cup against Ayr.
“That seems such a long time ago and it didn’t mean anything. This one meant so much.”
Lift at Livingston
Mitov, who will soon join up with his Bulgarian team-mates for a friendly double-header, believes it was St Johnstone’s unity that saw them across the line.
“Everybody knows that this season hasn’t been good enough,” he said.
“But we had to find a way to stay up.
“That wouldn’t have happened without leaders in the dressing room and boys who care about the football club – boys like Gordy (Liam Gordon), Mayso (Stevie May), Ryan (McGowan) and Andy (Considine).
“These are guys who have driven standards every single day.
“We deserved to stay up in the end.
“And the supporters were incredible.
“Going into the Livingston game we hadn’t been playing well and we’d had a few bad results.
“But the fans were amazing that day – they have been all season.
“There have been more bad times than good times unfortunately but they have stuck by us and the fact that they didn’t give up on us is one of the reasons we stayed in the league.
“Their support at Livingston gave us such a lift.”
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