Interview: Ryan Stevenson, footballer with the patience of a Saint

DROPPING down the leagues because you couldn't get a game with a First Division St Johnstone side isn't most people's idea of the starting point for a successful career trajectory. But Ryan Stevenson can look beyond his own experience for evidence it can be.

The 26-year-old had a one-year contract extension confirmed by Hearts this week, all of four years after he was forced to leave Perth for regular football with Second Division Ayr United.

The frustrations felt at McDiarmid Park by a player who was on Chelsea's books as a youngster were shared by Stephen Dobbie. He also left the Perth team in 2006 through lack of opportunity, with the former Rangers and Hibernian player ending up with Third Division Dumbarton. A fortnight ago, for the second successive season, he helped a team snare a slot in the English Premier League through the Championship play-off final. Dobbie achieved the feat last month with Swansea City, 12 months on from an on-loan victory at temporary employers Blackpool. Stevenson acknowledges the parallels between the two situations.

"He (Dobbie] was in the same boat as me at St Johnstone, stuck on the bench," he says. "The year I was playing he went to Dumbarton on loan. If you told him he'd go from there to playing in the English Premier League he wouldn't have believed you. It's an incredible turnaround. But he deserves it too. I spoke to him before the play-off final and told him that.

"He realised as well that he had to make a change. He was carrying a bit of extra weight and wasn't applying himself as he might have done. He went down the divisions and realised, like I did, how much some of these guys sacrifice just to play part-time. They do a hard shift through the week at work and still fit in training and games.

"Luckily enough it's worked out for the two of us. We didn't have to go to that extreme, but it was a wake-up call. We both knew, if we got a second chance, we had to grasp it. He has and I like to think I have too."

It is difficult to pin down precisely how or why Stevenson seemed to acquire the wayward tag and the temptation has been to assume it was because of his extreme body art. Yet he is a thoughtful and articulate fella who possesses acute self-awareness.

Owen Coyle, his boss at St Johnstone, can be considered his footballing guru in the latter matter.

"When I went to St Johnstone, obviously I came from Chelsea," Stevenson says. "I was 18 and you think that football's just going to happen for you, that it owes you a living.

"I faded away and didn't really play as much. But I'd had a great year and a half under Owen Coyle initially. He probably helped me more than anyone at that stage. He helped me grow up in a sense. He helped show me right from wrong and I played regularly for a spell.

"Even now, like when I moved to Hearts, he's still in touch from time to time to find out how I'm doing. He gives me little bits of help here and there. As soon as I went to Ayr, he was the first one to tell me to make it a positive step, not a negative one.

"I went there and I knew what I had to do play well and get back up a level as soon as I could. But the more time passes you think it's maybe passed you by.

"In football it's easy to get a reputation, whether it's justified or not, and people might not want to take a chance on you. So I owe the manager a lot."

Stevenson has been able to find himself at Tynecastle where he understudied for Kevin Kyle and ended the season performing the leading role with spotlight-catching goals, including the winner against Rangers at Tynecastle in February and the opener in the final Edinburgh derby of the season. He doesn't fear a return to bit-part player in a much smaller production.

"I don't let that enter my mindset. When I took the step back from St Johnstone to Ayr I knew that was with a view to building on things. I said I'd never let myself get into that situation again. Ayr was great for me and it was the club I supported, so it was good going back to play for them. It was a step back I didn't want to take, but I had to take it.

After doing that I feel confident I won't have to do it again. Since I went to Ayr I've got better and better with each passing season. Now I want to build on what I've done so far at Hearts. It was my first full season last year and I want to improve on that."

• Hearts have announced the death of former defender Jimmy Rodger who played 21 competitive games for the club between 1947 and 1950, and later played for Stirling Albion, Third Lanark and Airdrie.