Seeing a women’s football team start a season in St Johnstone colours is the “last piece of the jigsaw” for club chairman Steve Brown.
Through a partnership with Jeanfield Swifts Ladies, their senior side will carry the name of St Johnstone WFC when they begin their 2018 Scottish Women’s Premier Division Two campaign next month.
SSE were unveiled as the main sponsor yesterday and Brown is delighted that Saints are now part of the fast-growing women’s game.
“This is the last piece of the jigsaw for us,” he said. “It’s right that a professional club like ourselves has a ladies football team.
“Women’s football is one of the most popular sports in the word. It’s getting bigger all the time and I think it will continue to do that.
“Everybody in Perth takes great pride in the ladies who have gone on to represent their country. Just look at Lisa Evans from here, who has moved from Bayern Munich to Arsenal. It’s incredible.
“There has been a really good reaction since the news came out. It’s good for Perth, good for the club, good for Jeanfield and good for young footballers in the area.”
The team’s general manager, Steve Grossi, added: “The reaction to the partnership in Perth – and in Scottish women’s football – has been very positive.
“It’s great that we’ve carried through some sponsors and been able to link up with a company of the stature of SSE. It’s an indication of how far we’ve come.
“We’re an elite club producing elite players.”
Jason McCrindle continues as manager and wants success for the team and career development for his players.
“We know where we want to go,” he said. “But it won’t happen overnight.
“The name St Johnstone makes it slightly easier to attract players but we can’t just rely on that.
“The nucleus of the squad has stayed the same and we’ve brought in a couple of young internationalists.
“I’m not going to make any bold statements. We want this to be sustainable. But I’m ambitious. I want us to win promotion and to start winning cups.
“I think we have players who can progress to play for their country and at the top level in Europe or England.”
Three Perth players – Evans, Gemma Fay and Lana Clelland – were in the Scottish squad that competed in the European Championships recently.
Saints captain Jade McDonald and the rest of her team certainly don’t lack local role models.
“A lot of players in our team know Lisa and Lana,” said the skipper. “It’s a small football community. It’s really good to be able to relate to those players and strive to hopefully be at that level one day.
“I’ve been at Jeanfield for seven seasons.
“It’s been a long journey and a successful journey. There has been a lot of hard work to get to where we are today. A lot of people have been very dedicated.
“When it was announced at our awards night that we would become St Johnstone everyone was buzzing. Now we want to push on.”
