St Johnstone owner, Adam Webb, has insisted that it never crossed his mind to sack Simo Valakari.
And face to face meetings between Saints’ majority shareholder and his head coach in Atlanta last week have reaffirmed his conviction that he has the right head coach in place to rebuild the Perth club from the bottom up.
Valakari spent a few days with Webb to put meat on the bones of their plans for a quick bounce-back into the Premiership following last season’s relegation.
The chairman was convinced he had the right football figurehead at McDiarmid Park even at Saints’ lowest point in nearly 20 years.
A few weeks after they dropped into the Championship, that belief is stronger than ever.
“The sentiment was stick with Simo and back Simo,” said Webb.
“Of course, that wouldn’t have been the universal opinion amongst our supporters.
“There will always be naysayers.
“But I would say it was nearly universal.
“There are a few reasons for that.
“Simo’s compelling and charismatic personality is obviously one.
“And he’s got a complete buy-in for our community and our club.
“Also, football-wise you could see flashes of what he is trying to do with the team.
“The win over Celtic and some other good wins were highlights in amongst the gloom.
“I’m sure on social media there were some calls for Simo to go when we were relegated.
“But I didn’t hear much of it – there was certainly none of that from people I trusted, whose insight I had noted before.
“There wasn’t an agonising decision to make.
“We wanted to stick with Simo and, by and large, I think our fan base agree with that.”
Productive meetings
Matt Klase and Chet Arter have made several trips to Perth since last summer’s Saints in America takeover.
But the Atlanta trip was the first opportunity for Valakari to meet all the investors.
“We’re planning for Simo to be here long-term,” Webb added.
“We all know that bad things can happen which means the coach has to go.
“And good things can happen which means somebody else comes for your coach.
“But I think you’ve got to plan for your coach being at the club for multiple years.
“You need to build relationships and comfort levels.
“Simo stayed with us in Atlanta for several days last week.
“We had a great time – some socialising, some business, some strategy sessions.
“He knows he can call me, Matt Klase, Chet Arter, Franklin Lemond and others.
“All the owners were in town for meetings while Simo was over here.
“He knows he’s got people who will act on his inclinations if we possibly can.
“The in-person stuff was great. It was a very useful set of meetings.”
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