Simo Valakari gets St Johnstone signing pledge from club owners

Simo Valakari has been told he can strengthen the St Johnstone squad before the next transfer window opens.

And doing his homework on the Perth club has given him a head start on identifying the root of their current problems.

But, with a fortnight between games after Saints face Rangers on Sunday, the new McDiarmid Park head coach won’t rush into snap judgments.

“Yes, yes,” said Valakari in response to a question about being given the opportunity to sign free agents over the next few weeks.

“I have said I want to assess our players. That is important. But yes, definitely, there is a possibility.

“January is quite a long way away.

“It’s not about January, it’s about now, and we have these players. We need to work, and I need to improve them.”

Problems and solutions at McDiarmid Park

Saints have conceded nine goals since a managerial vacancy opened up.

Solutions to their defensive problems might not be as obvious as they appear.

“I’ve looked at the videos and we can all see the end product,” he said. “What the final mistake was, what happened, that sort of thing.

“But there’s always a cause and effect. Something might have happened higher up the park.

“If everyone is on the same page, it will help us minimise these mistakes.

“Because for me, the personal mistakes, it’s like you have been exposed to pressure or something.

“That’s why this is a collective sport – through the structure, through the way of playing, we can help these individuals to be better.

“Losing these last-minute goals affects you and then you start doing physically, tactically, different things that we have not been doing in training.

“Then it becomes much more difficult.”

The time is right for Valakari to return to Scotland

Valakari twice came close to being appointed Motherwell manager and a return to Fir Park wasn’t the only possibility over the last few years in terms of realising his dream of coaching in Scotland.

“There were quite a few,” he revealed. “But I have to say the timing was not right, and I was not right at that moment to be ready.

“But now all this, my experience, what I’ve had, the timing with Riga, the timing here, this fresh start, everything went together.

“I’m honoured to be the first foreign manager here and it’s a big choice from the club.

“It’s not an easy choice.”

Valakari has vowed to be his own man at McDiarmid Park.

“I have learned from every manager I played for,” he said. “I’ve learned very, very good things.

“At the same time, I have learned that when you become a coach, maybe this is not a good way to do things.

“I could say I like Jürgen Klopp, I want to play him. I like Pep Guardiola, I want to play like him. Or Diego Simeone.

“No, no, no – you need to be authentic, yourself.

“You can learn but you need to be authentic because then only that way players can trust you.”

Dugout wait

Valakari’s work permit won’t be confirmed in time for him to be in the dugout at Ibrox on Sunday but before he takes his seat in the main stand, he’ll have delivered a ‘no fear’ team-talk to his players.

“As a club, we have done everything to make things happen as quickly as possible but unfortunately I will be in the directors’ box,” he said.

“We should not go there with fear. Let’s go and play there. Because everybody will think we’re going to lose, anyway.

“So, if it does happen that we lose, which doesn’t have to be the case, let’s make sure at the very least that we lose in our own way.

“Let’s go and play and see where it takes us.

“We can go there, test ourselves, show that we are a good team and have good players.

“We go there thinking it’s possible; we go there doing things what we think we need to do to win the football match.

“Do we win or not? I don’t know that. But we go there for it.”