[themaclad]

St Johnstone Football Club is a professional football club in Perth, Scotland. The name of the football club derives from St. John's Toun – the old name of Perth. Although it is officially recorded as being formed in 1884, the club did not play its first game until February 1885. The club's home since 1989 has been McDiarmid Park. The club's first Scottish 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 tier of league football in Scotland, in 2008–09. This gained them promotion to the Scottish Premier League, bringing a return of SPL football to McDiarmid Park for the 2009–10 campaign after a seven-year absence. The club have historically floated between the top two divisions of Scottish football, obtaining the reputation of being a "yo-yo club". Their traditional rivals are the two Dundee clubs, Dundee and Dundee United, with matches between St Johnstone and either Dundee club being called Tayside derbies.

The club had limited success in cup competitions for the first 130 years of its history, losing at the semi-final stages on numerous occasions as well as losing two Scottish League Cup finals. The club won their first Scottish Cup in 2014 with a 2–0 win against Dundee United. In 2020–21, St Johnstone won their first League Cup and second Scottish Cup to complete a historic Cup double. They defeated Livingston 1–0 in the League Cup final and Hibernian 1–0 in the Scottish Cup final, becoming only the second club outwith the Old Firm to win both cups in the same season after Aberdeen.

They have also 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 position in the top division was third place on three occasions: 1971, 1999 and 2013.

The club is notable for being the only professional football club in the UK to contain the letter J.


Manager

Callum Iain Davidson (born 25 June 1976 in Stirling) is a Scottish professional football player and coach. He is the manager of St Johnstone. Davidson played as a left-back for St Johnstone, Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City and Preston North End between 1994 and 2014. At international level, Davidson represented Scotland on 19 occasions between 1998 and 2009. Since retiring as a player, Davidson has become a football coach, and was given his first full-time role in management with St Johnstone in June 2020.

Ground



McDiarmid Park is a stadium in Perth, Scotland, used mainly for association football. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone since its opening in 1989. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of 10,696.[1]

As well as St Johnstone matches, McDiarmid Park has been chosen to host the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup on nine occasions. It has also been used for rugby union, including a full international between Scotland and Japan in 2004, several Scotland A fixtures, and some home matches of the former Caledonia Reds team.

MACS VIEW

Over the border to Scotland brings back memeories of pre seasons from yesteryear when we rocked up usually on the East coast of Scotland, playing at places like Brechin, Montrose and Arbroath, once saw North End in a friendly at Kilmarnock were ex Scotland manager Ally Macleod was in the Supporters club at a Darts competion.
Sadly cannot go as they still have Covid restrictions hence a crowd of only 2000 when we hit Celtic Park on Saturday