Latest news with #CallumDavidson
The Herald Scotland
26-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Incredible £5.7m Queen's Park spend as challenges laid bare
Queen's Park sacked Callum Davidson after their historic Scottish Cup win over Rangers was followed by some poor league form. Steven MacLean saw them through to the end of the season but the reins have now been handed to his assistant Sean Crighton. Further changes will be made at the club as major funder Willie Haughey, and his company City Facilities Management Holdings Ltd, are withdrawing their financial backing from next year. That means cuts will have to be made and club president Graeme Shields revealed the extent of that - current expenditure of £5.7m needing to drop to around £1m. He told Queen's Park's YouTube channel: "So obviously we got notification that City are withdrawing their sponsorship from the end of June 2026. Read more: Brendan Rodgers' pointed Hampden 'message' to Celtic board ahead of big summer Kyogo hints at plans for next season as ex-Celtic star looks to future "Currently, the club's expenditure for thus year to be £5.7m. Once City's sponsorship ends we know we have to get that down to close to £1m, so we basically have to find £4.7m worth of savings between now and June 2026. "It's a massive challenge and it's something we have looked at and set up a change team to look at the change and all income and expenditure at the club. And to come up with ways we can actually find £4.7m worth of savings. "So far, we've identified about £2.3m worth of savings so we're about half way there but it's the next bit that's going to be the hardest. "The academy has gone and that was costing the club, for the elite status, about £1.1m a season. That has gone, although we've been able to retain the under-19s and 17s so we can protect the assets we've got in there and hopefully future training compensation for the club. "But it is an enormous task because you're dealing with people's lives which isn't a pleasant thing to go through." Asked for more information on the club's academy shutting down, he added: "For the academy we did have a number of interested parties come forward with potential investments. "Unfortunately none of them came to frution. Mainly for the scale of the investment because also because most of the interested parties were looking for some kind of equity in the club, which we can't do as a members club. "We need to change the whole model and ownership of the club to accommodate that, which is something we can't do at the moment. We might have to seriously consider that in the future."
The National
26-05-2025
- Business
- The National
Incredible £5.7m Queen's Park spend as challenges laid bare
The Glasgow club have been fighting at the wrong end of the second tier, just missing out on relegation to League One by finishing eighth and helped by Hamilton Accies' 15 point deduction. Otherwise, the Spiders would have been contesting the relegation play-offs. Queen's Park sacked Callum Davidson after their historic Scottish Cup win over Rangers was followed by some poor league form. Steven MacLean saw them through to the end of the season but the reins have now been handed to his assistant Sean Crighton. Further changes will be made at the club as major funder Willie Haughey, and his company City Facilities Management Holdings Ltd, are withdrawing their financial backing from next year. That means cuts will have to be made and club president Graeme Shields revealed the extent of that - current expenditure of £5.7m needing to drop to around £1m. He told Queen's Park's YouTube channel: "So obviously we got notification that City are withdrawing their sponsorship from the end of June 2026. Read more: Brendan Rodgers' pointed Hampden 'message' to Celtic board ahead of big summer Kyogo hints at plans for next season as ex-Celtic star looks to future "Currently, the club's expenditure for thus year to be £5.7m. Once City's sponsorship ends we know we have to get that down to close to £1m, so we basically have to find £4.7m worth of savings between now and June 2026. "It's a massive challenge and it's something we have looked at and set up a change team to look at the change and all income and expenditure at the club. And to come up with ways we can actually find £4.7m worth of savings. "So far, we've identified about £2.3m worth of savings so we're about half way there but it's the next bit that's going to be the hardest. "The academy has gone and that was costing the club, for the elite status, about £1.1m a season. That has gone, although we've been able to retain the under-19s and 17s so we can protect the assets we've got in there and hopefully future training compensation for the club. "But it is an enormous task because you're dealing with people's lives which isn't a pleasant thing to go through." Asked for more information on the club's academy shutting down, he added: "For the academy we did have a number of interested parties come forward with potential investments. "Unfortunately none of them came to frution. Mainly for the scale of the investment because also because most of the interested parties were looking for some kind of equity in the club, which we can't do as a members club. "We need to change the whole model and ownership of the club to accommodate that, which is something we can't do at the moment. We might have to seriously consider that in the future."
Glasgow Times
26-05-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Incredible £5.7m Queen's Park spend as challenges laid bare
The Glasgow club have been fighting at the wrong end of the second tier, just missing out on relegation to League One by finishing eighth and helped by Hamilton Accies' 15 point deduction. Otherwise, the Spiders would have been contesting the relegation play-offs. Queen's Park sacked Callum Davidson after their historic Scottish Cup win over Rangers was followed by some poor league form. Steven MacLean saw them through to the end of the season but the reins have now been handed to his assistant Sean Crighton. Further changes will be made at the club as major funder Willie Haughey, and his company City Facilities Management Holdings Ltd, are withdrawing their financial backing from next year. That means cuts will have to be made and club president Graeme Shields revealed the extent of that - current expenditure of £5.7m needing to drop to around £1m. He told Queen's Park's YouTube channel: "So obviously we got notification that City are withdrawing their sponsorship from the end of June 2026. Read more: Brendan Rodgers' pointed Hampden 'message' to Celtic board ahead of big summer Kyogo hints at plans for next season as ex-Celtic star looks to future "Currently, the club's expenditure for thus year to be £5.7m. Once City's sponsorship ends we know we have to get that down to close to £1m, so we basically have to find £4.7m worth of savings between now and June 2026. "It's a massive challenge and it's something we have looked at and set up a change team to look at the change and all income and expenditure at the club. And to come up with ways we can actually find £4.7m worth of savings. "So far, we've identified about £2.3m worth of savings so we're about half way there but it's the next bit that's going to be the hardest. "The academy has gone and that was costing the club, for the elite status, about £1.1m a season. That has gone, although we've been able to retain the under-19s and 17s so we can protect the assets we've got in there and hopefully future training compensation for the club. "But it is an enormous task because you're dealing with people's lives which isn't a pleasant thing to go through." Asked for more information on the club's academy shutting down, he added: "For the academy we did have a number of interested parties come forward with potential investments. "Unfortunately none of them came to frution. Mainly for the scale of the investment because also because most of the interested parties were looking for some kind of equity in the club, which we can't do as a members club. "We need to change the whole model and ownership of the club to accommodate that, which is something we can't do at the moment. We might have to seriously consider that in the future."
BBC News
09-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Are St Johnstone doomed as trap door edges closer?
In the most surreal of surroundings for such a momentous occasion, Callum Davidson punched the air with his right yards away, five of his players crashed to their knees in exhaustion and disbelief, the undreamable playing out in front of nobody at a barren Hampden 22 May 2021 was the day St Johnstone Football Club probably peaked in its then 137-year history. Their first ever League Cup secured earlier that season, now the Scottish Cup was in the bag. all that was the highest of highs for the Perth club, a troublesome four years since has led them to the brink of relegation, a fate which could be sealed tomorrow if defeated by Ross it an inevitability? Or do this season's long-term strugglers still have a hope? The present - alarm bells deafening The facts facing St Johnstone and manager Simo Valakari make for grim reading. Currently bottom of the Scottish Premiership by six points with nine left to play for, really only a win on Saturday at home to 11th-placed County is going to team have lost their past four on the spin. They've also only won twice in the league in the past three months, bizarrely most recently against champions Celtic in a rare a stall in form is nothing new. St Johnstone have been in the bottom two in the league this season for 160 days, first entering that drop zone seven games glancing further afield, if Dundee avoid defeat at Kilmarnock, realistically 11th is the best St Johnstone can hope for even if they win the relegation rumble against County. The history - cause for hope or panic? So St Johnstone have toiled for large swathes of this season. That much isn't really in question. But they're not the first and they certainly won't be the last side to stumble their way into trouble at the wrong end of the 1999, the team who were bottom of the table with three games to go have only escaped relegation five times, and two of those seasons were because there were no relegated teams at 2005, Dunfermline Athletic overturned a three-point deficit as Dundee went down. Four years later, Falkirk clawed back a four-point gap to actually finish two places above the drop with Inverness Caledonian Thistle dropping in 2014, Kilmarnock finished ninth after being bottom with three games to play, albeit they were just a point adrift of a hat-trick of while St Johnstone's points tally of 29 with three to play is relatively high for a bottom-placed team, those in and around them are also above can probably put this down to bigger teams dropping more points. Rangers have spilled points in 15 games, Hibernian and Aberdeen doing the same in 20 of main glimmer of hope lies in St Johnstone's nearest rivals. Already this season, they've taken seven points from nine against County, and also four against Dundee, who they face in the final game. There's also a swingable goal difference at been three narrow 2-1 defeats to Wednesday's opponents Hearts, but timing may be on their side with the Tynecastle club hunting for a new manager. The reality - 'No one is safe' Brian McLauchlin, BBC Sport ScotlandSt Johnstone boss Simo Valakari says his job is on the line at the club should they be relegated from the Premiership into the Championship for next says he is in the same situation as everyone else at the club, and insists it would be a huge financial blow should their 16-year stay in the top flight comes to an end."Yes, everyone's job, of course, yes, of course [including my own]," he said."We know how football works and there is no hiding. We can talk about this and this and this, but everyone is on the same boat. No one, no one is safe."Of course we chat [with the owners] every week. We chat many times during the week. They are not happy with the results, who would be?"They understand the circumstances, they see behind the results as well, which is very, very important when you talk about the process."
BBC News
19-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Can Masters winner McIlroy inspire Saints?
Callum Davidson hopes St Johnstone can take inspiration from Rory McIlroy's win at The Masters when they face Celtic in this weekend's Scottish Cup who famously won both domestic cups with the Saints in 2020-21, knows his former side are in for a daunting task and hopes they didn't "poke the fire" too much in beating Brendan Rodgers' side 1-0 recently."I think it's going to be a tough game for them," he said. "I think they kind of poked the fire a little bit there with the performance against them, a few wee tactics they had in the game."I hear they've got a few wee niggly injuries, they've got a few guys who might be missing. So I think it's going to be really tough. "They've got to take confidence from last week in what they can do. But I think all things have to align for them a little bit to get through."After Rory McIlroy's heroics at Augusta on Sunday evening, Davidson, who is an avid golf fan, would like to see similar grit and heart from the Saints side in their own attempt to make history."But they'll be going into it thinking, you know, it's one game, we have a chance. We have an opportunity. It's all about creating history. We talk about Rory McIlroy a little bit and creating history," he added."You have to be brave enough to go and try and get the job done. And I think that'll be the message; that certainly was the message last time we played them."Go and have the courage and go and be brave to try and achieve something."And if you don't, at least you give it a go, and you can bounce back again and then go and try again."
