Rangers nine-in-a-row hero leaves SPFL club after NINETEEN years amid major backroom changes
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SIMO VALAKARI will shake up his coaching staff after splitting with number two Andy Kirk and long-serving coach Alex Cleland.
The Finn has decided to make major changes to his backroom team following relegation to the Championship.
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Alec Cleland pictured taking training at McDiarmid Park
Credit: Perthshire Picture Agency
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Cleland (right) celebrates a Rangers goal with McCoist and Durrant
Valakari inherited Kirk from former boss Craig Levein, who brought him in from Brechin City when he got the job in 2023.
Cleland has served Saints since 2009, after joining as U20s manager under Derek McInnes and then stepping up to become assistant boss to Tommy Wright.
The ex-Rangers and Everton star has stepped in as caretaker several times over the years and was part of the first-team coaching staff under Valakari last term.
Saints will now bring in a coach/analyst from abroad, with a domestic-based number two being targeted.
Valakari's son Paavo, who joined the staff mid-way through last season, will remain in his post as performance manager.
Saints said: 'The club can confirm that there will be a restructuring of the football department as we look ahead to the 2025/26 season.
'Assistant manager Andy Kirk and first team coach Alex Cleland both depart. We thank them greatly for all of their contributions.
'Andy arrived at McDiarmid Park as assistant to Craig Levein and during his time with us, also took on the role of interim manager.
'He operated with professionalism throughout, and we wish him all the very best for the future.
'Alex joined in the summer of 2009 to work alongside Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty for our return to top-flight football.
St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari on loving 'crazy' club owners, his Motherwell days and run-in with a Celtic hero
'While managers moved on through the years, Alex remained a constant.
'He played his part in us winning three pieces of major silverware – the Scottish Cup in 2014 and 2021, as well as the League Cup in 2021.
'Alex was also first team coach throughout numerous top six finishes and memorable European adventures, including advancing beyond both Rosenborg and FC Luzern.
'He stepped into the role of interim manager on more than one occasion and always went about his business with the utmost professionalism.
'Not just a positive influence on first team senior squad members, Alex has also helped shape the careers of countless young footballers who transitioned through our academy.
'Again, we thank Alex for his major contribution to St Johnstone Football Club and wish him the very best for the future.'
Meanwhile, defender Sam McClelland, who is out of contract this summer, has undergone another operation on his injured achilles.
The Northern Ireland international suffered the injury on the opening day of last season's Premiership so has been out of action since.
Saints will give him facilities to continue his rehab while he builds up his fitness.
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No one in Spain scored more goals than Mbappé, the best debut campaign a Madrid goalscorer has ever had, but his acceleration was late and unaccompanied. He admitted he had hit 'rock bottom' first, and his revival did not bring the trophies or the moments he came for. It was not all about him, of course, but his arrival had been part of the shift, a symbol. The season that was always going to be his had been a failure. 'When a player like me comes to a team, many things change,' Mbappé said, and not all of them were for the better. Madrid lost 12 times, their flaws never more clearly laid bare than in the clásico, which kept coming round and with the same result. When Barcelona put five past Madrid in January it did not just win them the Super Cup, it was the start of them taking back control in the title race too. On the way into the stadium that night, news came through the sports ministry would let them register Dani Olmo despite Barcelona missing the deadline, Laporta heading up to the directors' box where he told the president of the federation exactly what he thought, shouting, swearing and a few days later shrugging: 'I am the way I am'. Saudi Arabia was also where Iñaki Peña arrived a couple of minutes late to a team meeting, the excuse for Szczesny to make his first start. They also went on to win 16 and draw one of their next 17 league games, all the way to the title, won the Copa del Rey next, and got within 42 seconds (and the width of a post) of a first Champions League final in 10 years. Madrid did at least compete in the first clásico cup final for 11 years – once they had decided to actually turn up – but they were beaten again, the way they completely lost it at full-time saying something about their mental state which went beyond just the players. As ice flew the referee's way, Antonio Rüdiger's self-proclaimed madness no longer seemed so funny. When the fourth and final clásico of the season came two weeks later, it was a last chance for Madrid to salvage something. They went two up inside 15 minutes and Mbappé eventually scored a hat-trick but Barcelona scored four before half-time, the perfect storm. For 24 minutes Madrid did not get out of their half – yes, literally – and the league was as good as gone. Four days later, when Barcelona won at Espanyol, it really was. Barcelona won the double and a treble. The treble slipped through their fingers in the semi-final at San Siro, lessons to learn and promises made: Lamine Yamal vowed they would be back, which felt believable now in a way that 12 months earlier it could not have. Domestically, Barcelona had been too good and so much fun. In the cup meetings with primera teams there was a 3-2, a 4-4, a 5-0 and a 5-1. 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Below them, Madrid, Atlético, Athletic and Villarreal took the other Champions League places. Athletic had missed what might have been the biggest moment in their history, playing a European final in their own stadium, and had to host thousands of Manchester United and Spurs fans instead – but qualifying for their first Champions League campaign in a decade was a monumental achievement. Villarreal's return was significant too, literally breaking the ceiling as they celebrated. The other European places went to three teams who made football fun, and to whom it meant the world. 'We're pissed off to lose but we enjoy playing and if you enjoy playing you're going to be closer to winning; this will help us in the long run,' the Celta de Vigo winger Alfon had said when they were beaten by Madrid in October, and by May he had been proved right. This was football the way it is supposed to be, all about belonging too. A young, fearless local team, full of Galician academy products and led by the youngest coach in the league had been expected to fight for survival but Iago Aspas, the greatest player in their history, scored the goal at Getafe that secured seventh on the final day, his tearful promise to return the team to Europe finally fulfilled eight years later. Thirteen kilometres away, Rayo Vallecano were made to wait a little longer for a fiesta of their own, players gathered round a phone at full-time, anxiously watching the end of Osasuna's game, but they returned to Europe 25 years later. They had been led there by Iñigo Pérez, the coach who only ever wears a T-shirt no matter how cold it is and who the British Home Office said could not make a significant contribution to English football so was forced to make history in Spain instead. From the moment a proper pitch invasion began and the goalkeeper Augusto Batalla lost his shorts, only 15 seconds passed. 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'It was like someone had died,' the Leganés coach Borja Jiménez said. His team had beaten Barcelona and Atlético but still gone down. Forty points had been enough to survive in nine of the last 10 seasons, but not this time. If you had never seen a grown cucumber cry, you have now. The season was virtually over, just one thing left to do. Four days later, Betis, who had come from what Manuel Pellegrini described as the worst days of his six-years in charge to being the best team in La Liga for much of 2025, had a historic European final to play in Poland. It was not to be: they became the first Spanish team to lose a final to a foreign side since Valencia and Alavés in 2001. But do not think that the only winners this season were the team with the retiree in goal, because there is always more. So pick out your tux, climb aboard your private jet and welcome to the 25th Spanish football awards. Or, if you did not win, you could just stay at home in a huff instead. Valladolid, where Juanmi Latasa and Luis Pérez sat on the bench watching the final minutes of another humiliating defeat, the former pointing out that this was 'shit' and the latter telling him to shut up. To which Latasa replied: 'You shut up, you're a fine one to talk, superstar,' at which point Pérez reached across and punched him. 'And they're friends,' the coach Álvaro Rubio said. Thieves broke into the trophy room at Rayo Vallecano. Police are looking for a man with a carpet. Ba-dum tish. Actually, they really did break into the training ground at Rayo Vallecano, and police really were looking for a man with 60 pairs of boots. It was the fourth time it had happened. Borja Iglesias, turning up to his presentation at Celta in a sky blue Seat Panda. The entire Villarreal team turning up in taxis for a Copa del Rey game at Pontevedra after their flight could not land nearby. They played 106 minutes in the pouring rain, took 21 shots, and lost 1-0. Ronaldo, running to lead the Brazilian FA. Because he did such a good job at Valladolid. When Valladolid played Getafe, Ronaldo was back in Brazil instead, not just playing tennis but broadcasting it all on Twitch. So the following week their fans decided they would do the same, setting up a 'court' in the north stand and hitting a great big yellow ball back and forth with two giant, cartoonish rackets. Rude Bellingham. F off? Or f you? And yes that really is the set of the nearest thing Spain has to Match of the Day emblazoning both across their set IN GREAT BIG CAPITAL LETTERS. The Alavés manager, Chacho Coudet, who pulled out a chocolate bar and offered it to a radio journalist. 'I'm still going to ask you the hard questions,' he was told. After all, it was only a Snickers. Madrid's Fede Valverde saying sorry for not having a go at referees. 46,731 people came to see Betis and Sevilla – and that was just for training the day before the derby. ABC went with a photo of Begona Navia-Osorio, 84, and 80-year-old Isabel Maria Rus-Velaquez, a pair of nuns from either side of Seville's great divide. It was, after all, 'a derby as God wills it.' It was kids day at Atlético, so they invited the children to have a go leading the chants over the megaphone at the south stand. And so one of them did, predictably offering a charming rendition of ¡Madridistas, hijos de puta! The Alavés supporters who came in hard hats, hi-vis vests, and safety specs, carrying measuring tapes in honour of lovable lump Kike Garcia, the striker they call el obrero del gol: the labourer of goals. Oscar. Just hope Espanyol's players brought their poo bags. Even the dogs want Nico Williams' autograph these days. Lamine Yamal's baby brother, 2-year-old Keyne, who hit Nico right where it hurts. That'll teach him for not joining Barcelona. On the day Jesús Navas retired, the greatest player in Sevilla's history unable to carry on through the pain any more, he lifted his shirt up for the fans to see. With his name folded over so that only the No 16 he wore in homage to the late Antonio Puerta was visible. The clock showed 91.08 in their game with Barcelona when the Getafe coach, José Bordalas sent on Ismael Bekhoucha for the most brilliantly on-brand debut ever. Bekhoucha ran on, immediately pushed Pedri, crashed into Alejandro Balde, pushed him, blocked a cross, celebrated in Balde's face, got a slap, went to ground, and used up a minute, sparking a confrontation on the touchline. So he got up again, bumped into Raphinha twice, went down and used up another 40 seconds. Which left just enough time to get the ball, lose it and give it large to Balde again before the whistle went. Seven minutes, three touches, no passes, a yellow card, and a great result. The perfect performance. Osasuna's Aimar Oroz, who waited as two fans did rock, paper, scissors to see which one of them got his shirt. Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson Jonathan Wilson brings expert analysis on the biggest stories from European soccer after newsletter promotion Vedat Muriqi, Mallorca's target man extraordinaire and Gladiator II extra. Augusto Batalla, the goalkeeper to whom Carlo Ancelotti recommended a high potassium diet so severe was his recurring, excruciating battle with cramp, and with whom concerned colleague Iñaki Williams pleaded with to depart for treatment, what with that dislocated shoulder. Despite being forever at death's door, he didn't once give in, playing every minute of every game and even finding the strength to lead Rayo Vallecano to a derby victory over Leganés by saving a last-minute penalty. Twice. Ante Budimir. It was a cold, wet January morning in Pamplona, and the car that was supposed to take 78-year-old Mari Carmen to hospital hadn't turned up, leaving her stranded on the street. So Osasuna's all-time top scorer, who just happened to be passing, took her instead. Conor Gallagher had just got the equaliser at Rayo Vallecano when he stopped and sat on the pitch, something not right. Teammates came to his side, the referee did too, a hush falling, everyone fearing that he had broken something. Which, as it happened, he had: his hair band. With about 20 minutes to go and Real Madrid beating Alavés 3-0, the Bernabéu started chanting for Carlo Ancelotti to bring defender Jesús Vallejo on for the first time in two years, so he did. Six minutes later, Alavés had scored twice and were pushing for an equaliser. Vallejo did not play another minute until the title race was over. 'If I say what I think they'll stick me in a cage,' the Espanyol manager Manolo González claimed, but luckily that never stopped him. The man who claimed 'the nearest thing some people have seen to a football is a shoebox', insisting 'I don't go to the surgeon and tell him how to operate on me because I haven't got a fucking clue, but saying ridiculous things comes free,' described his refusal to go all-out attack as 'not just driving straight off a cliff without braking', said he goes 'from heart bypass to heart bypass every week', reckoned he would apply hair gel to his bald head 'in case it brings good luck', and responded to one particularly wild evening by claiming: 'All that was missing was me falling pregnant.' 'One day,' he said, 'you're John Travolta, the next you're Manolo González.' The 38-year-old club legend Cristhian Stuani had not started a match for 10 months when coach Míchel made him captain for Girona's first ever Champions League game, and he did not start another for two months after it either, but a promise is a promise. It got amply repaid too. Diego Simeone literally running away when he realised he was about to cry live on TV the night he completed 700 games in charge of Atletico Madrid. Sebastian Haller or James Rodríguez. Or Barcelona not getting Nico. OK, OK, it's Ayoze Pérez. The Valencia keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili betting Vinícius Júnior €50 that he would save his penalty at the Bernabéu was a nice little bonus. Or it would have been if the Brazilian had paid up. Antonin Panenka was invited to take the honorary kick-off at Real Oviedo, so of course he … performed a back-heel. Coral Gutiérrez, Gran Canaria's Wueen of the Carnaval went one better, not just taking the honorary kick-off before Las Palmas' game against Alavés but doing it with a rabona. Oh, and Pedri. The Barcelona midfielder Gavi and the Real Betis defender Diego Llorente teaming up to stick it to the man, taking out the referee Jesus Gil Manzano. Accidentally of course. Paulo Gazzaniga's three penalty saves against Athletic Club. Athletic's Oihan Sancet against Girona keeper Gazzaniga, the next time they met. When Lamine Yamal bent the ball perfectly into Raphinha's path with the outside of his foot from 40 yards against Villarreal, the Brazilian neatly lifting it over the keeper. AS called it 'the assist of the century,' but he did it a bit more often than that. There were two in Mallorca in five minutes, spinning and sliding across the turf like a bowling ball, and the one he played for Dani Olmo against Espanyol might have been even better. Villarreal's Álex Baena created more chances than anyone, another ball released with the outside of the boot for Nicolas Pépé against Leganés the neatest of an endless flow of perfect deliveries. Antony and Isco became best mates at Betis because of moments like this. Adnan Januzaj and Fábio Silva only connected to score once for Las Palmas, but what a once. Fede Valverde's flick for Kylian Mbappé was nice. Antonio Blanco's cross for Kike García couldn't have been better placed, although Iago Aspas to Óscar Mingueza probably was. The best of the lot though came from a goalkeeper. Andriy Lunin, we salute you. All of those are candidates but there's only one winner, or there would have been had this moment of magic from Samuel L Jackson's golf partner, Oli McBurnie, not come back off the bar. So let's head to Cornellà, where César Azpilicueta finally ended his 18-year wait to score in La Liga, and like this: Also at Espanyol, Ivan Cardona ran from one area to the other, and then thought: why not? ; where Gio Lo Celso and Antony handed in their entries, just five minutes apart; and of course where Lamine Yamal did the Lamine Yamal again, this time to win the league. Everyone loves a goalkeeper scoring, so how about two of them scoring two games in a row? Always watch Eibar. On 5 April, Jonmi Magunagoitia headed home in the 95th minute for them against Real Oviedo; seven days later, Gaëtan Poussin scored against them for Real Zaragoza in the 92nd minute. There's something wonderfully soft about Fran Beltran's shot, gently guided in on the bounce against Valencia. Luka Sucic's first-time finish for Real Sociedad against Atlético was just as smooth. Hit quite a bit harder, every Fede Valverde goal is a belter: there were nine of them this season, scored from a combined distance of about 2,000km away. Seen live and from right behind, the one against Celta was the most ludicrous. Leaning back like that, the flash of the boot so fast, the ball bouncing up a touch too high, it should have flown out the ground rather than into the net. Then there's Simeone. No, not that Simeone. Not that one, either, nor even that one. Here's Gianluca Simeone. From inside his own half, to take third-tier Rayo Majadahonda to the playoffs. This turn and finish from Antoine Griezmann was so glorious, so graceful it earned him an ovation – from the opposition's fans. But the winner is this from Raúl Garcia against Rayo. Just look at that first touch. And the second's not bad, either. There was just one problem when Manuel Pellegrini celebrated a goal at Alavés: the shot didn't actually go in, so the Betis coach sheepishly folded his arms back up again and pretended it had never happened. Diego Simeone went running towards Alex Sørloth after his late winner at Montjuïc, only to turn round and run back again, like a man who suddenly remembered he had left the oven on. Ayoze Pérez does love a nice cup of tea. There's something in Lamine Yamal's signalling the postcode of Rocafonda, an act of belonging however big he gets. And Antoine Griezmann's shirt raising moment gave itself to something cinematic. In the end though, there was nothing like the collective embrace of an entire community when César Tárrega, from the town of Aldaia, scored the first goal at Mestalla after the floods that killed over 200 people in the Valencia region, a moment that meant so many different things to so many different people and a reminder that you are allowed to enjoy, to live. In fact, you're supposed to. Betis after the derby, except that wasn't actually a title, it just felt like one. Nor was the whole of Vallecas going on the piss in a battered blue bus; it was something better. Barcelona's Pedri, Dani Olmo, Iñigo Martínez and Eric García cycling up Avinguda Diagonal in the dark it is, then. Rayo-Leganes was a free-flowing festival of football in which from 93.37 to 104.41, the ball was in play for four whole seconds. The winner though is Villarreal-Celta, just about the silliest match you could imagine. Seven goals from seven different men, the score going from 0-1, to 1-1, 1-2 to 3-2, and then to 3-3. Celta had two one-on-ones to win it on 94 and 95 only for Villarreal to actually do so on 100, the game eventually concluded in a way that was appropriately absurd. Hugo Álvarez grabbed hold of Thierno Barry's shorts outside the box but forgot to let go and was dragged far enough to end up inside it and give away a penalty. With what should have been the last kick, Dani Parejo's effort was saved by Ivan Villar; with what actually was, he put away the rebound. 'It's hard to explain,' Celta's Borja Iglesias admitted but this was to be enjoyed, not explained. 'If we're going to lose, let it be like this,' he said. 'I dreamed of one day seeing Vigo like this and of a group of mates taking Celta into Europe,' Claudio Giráldez said, and he had made it so. Manuel Pellegrini might just be the best coach Villarreal, Málaga and Betis have ever had. Valencia announced the arrival of Carlos Corberan on 25 December and it turned out he really was their Messiah. There was no gabarra this time, but Ernesto Valverde took Athletic to the Champions League. And Iñigo Pérez is bringing Europe to the barrio, whether Europe's ready or not. But really, how can it not be Hansi Flick? Come back in five minutes and the answer will have changed again. The candidates are clear, but choosing a winner messes with your mind. In the end, it comes down to three Barcelona players, although had Isco and Antony been at Betis all year that list might just be a little longer. No one played like Pedri, no one can play like Pedri. Raphinha was a revelation. And Lamine Yamal is ridiculous. Where did those fans go with their rock, paper and scissors? Come on, hurry up. Oh, OK. Raphinha. 4-3-3: Joan García (Espanyol); Andrei Ratiu (Rayo), Dani Vivian (Athletic), Iñigo Martínez (Barcelona), Óscar Mingueza (Celta); Pedri (Barcelona), Isco (Betis), Álex Baena (Villarreal); Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid), Raphinha (Barcelona). Subs: Sergi Cardona (Villarreal), Fede Valverde (Madrid), Ante Budimir (Osasuna), Ayoze Pérez (Villarreal), Mauro Arambarri, Luis Milla (Getafe), Mikel Jauregizar, Iñaki Williams, Oihan Sancet (Athletic), Julián Alvarez (Atletico), Antony (Betis), Carlos Vicente, Kike Garcia (Alavés), Jules Koundé (Barcelona). Oh, and Alex Sorløth, of course. Asked how many lives he has as he seems to get killed every week but somehow he's still there, Carlo Ancelotti replies: 'One, and I try to enjoy it.' Which is a nice place to leave it.
