Davidson remains focused on St Johnstone after Preston links

Callum Davidson insists he is fully focused on improving St Johnstone’s fortunes after he was linked with the managerial vacancy at Preston earlier this week.

The Saints boss, who spent seven years as a player at Deepdale, was reportedly on his former club’s shortlist to take over from Frankie McAvoy, who left his role on Monday. However, the Sky Bet Championship side moved swiftly to appoint Plymouth manager Ryan Lowe on Tuesday.

Davidson said: “There was no contact but I was flattered to be linked with it. It’s nice to be linked with your old clubs. That happens in football, but there was no contact so there’s not a lot to say about it really.

“It wasn’t a distraction because nobody contacted me. If somebody contacted me and we had discussions, it might have been a different answer, but for me, I’m really focused on making sure St Johnstone do better.

“I’ve got a big job on my hands here and I’m fully focused on that. We’ve got huge games coming up, so I’ve really only got thoughts on how to get results.”

Saints are currently 10th in the cinch Premiership after a poor start to the season and Davidson revealed he fully intends to bolster his squad in next month’s transfer window.

He said: “I’m looking to strengthen. Late in the (summer) transfer window we had to get a few loans in, so I think it’s really important to get more permanent signings through the door. The chairman’s told me to go and have a look and see what’s out there, to see where we can improve the squad.

“I’m only going to bring players in who will start or make an improvement to the team. I’ve got to put pressure on the players that are here because we want to start climbing the league. It’s a really important window for me.”

Saints have been linked with a move for out-of-favour Hearts attacker Jamie Walker, and Davidson admits he is a player on his radar.

He said: “I’m interested in a lot of players. A few names are popping up that I’m interested in. Jamie’s a quality player, a good attacking player, so he’s somebody we’d be interested in, but there are a lot of players outwith Jamie.”

The Saints manager expressed disappointment that last weekend’s postponed match at home to Ross County has been rescheduled for the Wednesday prior to Christmas.

“It’s an interesting time to play it,” he said. “I’m not complaining about it, just questioning it because it’s just before Christmas.

It’s a busy period for a lot of people, the weather hasn’t been great, there’s been loads of rain up here, so you just worry about the pitch and the standard of football.

“I think it would have been better to play it later on, but we don’t make the rules.”