St Johnstone facing loss of some of their Hampden heroes

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson has admitted the Perth club face the prospect of losing some of their double cup-winning heroes this summer.

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson celebrates with the Scottish Cup after his team's 1-0 win over Hibernian in the final at Hampden. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Davidson’s squad completed an historic achievement on Saturday when they defeated Hibernian 1-0 at Hampden to lift the Scottish Cup.

St Johnstone became only the fourth club in Scottish football history – after Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen – to win both domestic cup tournaments in the same season since the inception of the League Cup in 1946-47.

The exceptional campaign enjoyed by Davidson’s team has inevitably heightened interest in several of his players with captain Jason Kerr and midfielder Ali McCann among those likely to be the subject of bids from other clubs in the coming weeks.

“My players have performed at a very high level on big occasions, which says a lot,” said the Saints boss.

“It will be hard for the club to hold on to them. That’s the business we’re in. Hopefully, we only lose one or two.

“We need to make sure the ones who come through realise what these boys have done and meet those standards too.

“I’ve always said that players will get chances of big moves if they perform in big games.

“We beat Rangers in the Scottish Cup quarter-final and we’ve had four games at Hampden in the cups – we’ve only conceded one goal in those four.”

While much praise has rightly been heaped on St Johnstone’s central defensive trio of Kerr, Liam Gordon and Jamie McCart, their manager feels the collective effort of his squad should be recognised.

“I can’t fault any of them,” he added. “People talk about the back three but it’s not all down to them. It starts with the work-rate up front from the likes of Chris Kane, Stevie May and the others. We’ve got our success as a team.

“They’re a great bunch to work with. They go about their jobs on a daily basis really well and work so hard.

“The players probably don’t realise what they’ve done yet. It is a phenomenal achievement.

“I’ve really not got the words to describe it at the moment. People will be talking about this St Johnstone 2021 team for a long time.”

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