Latest news with #JasonHolt
STV News
16-05-2025
- Sport
- STV News
St Johnstone's Holt reflects on ‘challenging' year after second relegation
St Johnstone midfielder Jason Holt admitted he has endured a demoralising couple of years after suffering relegation from the Premiership in consecutive seasons. The 32-year-old joined Saints last summer after being part of the Livingston team that slipped into the Championship 12 months ago, and now he is licking his wounds once more after the Perth side learned on Wednesday that they had suffered the same fate. 'It's hard because as a player, you don't want any relegations on your CV,' said Holt. 'Unfortunately, I've been on the end of two. I think throughout your career there's going to be bumps in the road, there's going to be ups and downs. 'Certainly the last two years have been difficult because you're not winning a lot of football matches. You try not to, but you take that home with you and it affects everything. 'It's been challenging at times, but that's the life of a football player. There are bumps along the road. Unfortunately, I've been on the receiving end of a couple of bad ones.' Saints, who were nine points adrift in January, lost 2-1 at Hearts on Wednesday but it looked like they were going to take their survival fight to the final day, only for Ross County's last-gasp equaliser at Dundee to consign them to the Championship. 'At Livingston, we were relegated maybe three or four weeks before the end of the season,' said Holt. 'This year it was different because at one point it looked like we were gone, then we had a wee string of results which pulled us back into it and kept it competitive. Ultimately we've tried to take it as far as we could and we fell short. 'We're really disappointed and gutted but, overall, we've clearly not been good enough.' Saints owner Adam Webb confirmed on Thursday that they will keep faith with manager Simo Valakari but Holt, who remains under contract for next term, is braced for a likely squad overhaul. 'Naturally, I think if a club goes down, there's probably a bit of a rebuild,' he said. 'I don't know what that looks like, but I'm sure the club will have decisions to make over the summer. 'I think we're going to probably be one of the favourites (for the Championship) so there comes a different pressure in winning games every week. 'The group that's here next year will need to take that on board and deal with it. 'It certainly won't be easy, but the boys that are here and the players that come into the building will need to take that pressure on board.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Holt 'gutted' after back-to-back relegations
"Gutted" Jason Holt admits St Johnstone have "clearly not been good enough" this season as he comes to terms with successive midfielder went down with Livingston last term and has now suffered the same fate with Saints after their demotion to the Championship was confirmed following the midweek defeat at Hearts."It's hard because as a player, you don't want any relegations on your CV," said 32-year-old Holt."Unfortunately I've been on the end of two. I think throughout your career there's going to be bumps in the road, there's going to be ups and downs."Certainly the last two years have been difficult because you're not winning a lot of football matches. You try not to, but you take that home with you and it affects everything."It's been challenging at times, but that's the life of a football player. There are bumps along the road. Unfortunately, I've been on the receiving end of a couple of bad ones."We're really disappointed and gutted but, overall, we've clearly not been good enough."Holt expects a revamp of the Perth squad this summer under head coach Simo Valakari, whom owner Adam Webb confirmed on Thursday will be kept on."Naturally, I think if a club goes down, there's probably a bit of a rebuild," Holt said. "I don't know what that looks like, but I'm sure the club will have decisions to make over the summer."I think we're going to probably be one of the favourites (for the Championship) so there comes a different pressure in winning games every week."
The Courier
16-05-2025
- Sport
- The Courier
Jason Holt up for challenge of bringing St Johnstone back to top flight at first attempt
Jason Holt didn't stay at Livingston for their attempt to bounce straight back to the Premiership following relegation. But he aims to do just that with St Johnstone. Holt, who was signed by Craig Levein in the summer, is one of the Perth players under contract for next season. He knows a squad overhaul is about to come at McDiarmid Park. And he believes there is already the nucleus of a team that can hit the ground running in the Championship. 'Well, certainly, looking at it that way, I think we're going to probably be one of the favourites,' said the former Hearts and Rangers midfielder. 'That will bring a different pressure – winning games every week. 'The group that's here next year will need to take that on board and deal with that. 'It certainly won't be easy. 'But the boys who are here and the players who come into the building will need to deal with that pressure. 'Naturally, I think if a club goes down, there's probably a bit of a rebuild. 'I don't know what that will look like. 'There are players out contract who, if we stayed in the league, might have stayed at the club. 'Now, I don't know how that looks. 'But I am sure the club will have decisions to make over the summer.' Back-to-back relegations would take their emotional toll on any player. 'It's hard,' Holt admitted. 'You don't want any on your CV. 'Unfortunately, I've been on the end of two in a row. 'This year was a bit different – last year Livingston were relegated with a few weeks left. 'At one point it looked like we were gone her. Then we had a wee string of results which pulled us back into it and kept it competitive. 'We've tried to take it as far as we could but, ultimately, we've fallen short. 'Overall, we've clearly not been good enough. 'Throughout your career there's going to be bumps in the road, ups and downs. 'Certainly, the last two years have been difficult because you're not winning a lot of football matches. 'You try not to, but you take that home with you and it affects everything. 'It's been challenging at times, but again, that's the life of a football player.' Holt added: 'The lads and the staff are gutted. Gutted. 'It's been difficult for the whole club, the fans. 'Unfortunately, we've not been good enough in the end, so obviously as a collective group, we hold ourselves accountable. 'The boys are just devastated, to be honest, because it's a really good club and we wanted to stay in the top-flight for as long as we could. 'The fans travelled in unbelievable numbers again and backed us right to the end. 'Obviously, we were hoping that we could take it to the last day, but unfortunately, that's not the case.'
BBC News
14-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Holt taking 'positive signs' into survival battle
Jason Holt hopes St Johnstone's Scottish Cup semi-final against at Hampden can provide a boost to the club's scramble for top-flight Valakari's side beat Livingston 1-0 to reach the national stadium, and Holt says they showed different elements to their game."It was a really good result which takes us into the semis, most importantly we showed a couple of different sides to our game," he said."First half was backs to the wall a bit and we were under a lot of pressure. We got in at half-time and reset a bit and improved in the second half."That gives us positive signs that, in the league games, if at any time we are under pressure, we can deal with it and ride it out and know we can come out the other side."We're really happy with it, it is massive. It gives us another wee lift going into the weekend, it's back to the league which is the most important thing and what we have set our sights on."Saints are unbeaten in their past three outings in all competitions and have narrowed the gap at the bottom to three points as they prepare to host Aberdeen on Saturday."Take away the game on Monday, previous to that the form's been pretty good and it's put us into a position where it's a lot more competitive, which is how we wanted it going into the last stretch of the season," midfielder Holt added.
