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The National
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- The National
Ford determined to tap into Livingston's Detroit mentality
'Detroit vs Everybody' is more than a slogan on a billboard. More than a mural painted on the wall of a locker room to psyche out nervous quarter-backs. On the streets of the Motor City defiance has become a state of mind. Tommey Walker, a local designer, launched a 'Detroit vs Everybody' fashion brand in 2012. Two years later rapper Eminem produced a song by the same name on his Slim Shady XV album. The phrase is a symbol of the underdog spirit which helped Michigan's industrial capital survive a government bail out of an ailing automobile industry in 2008. Located 15 miles west of Edinburgh, Livingston has no history of producing cars. Outwith a bewildering number of roundabouts, there is no real history of building anything at all. Yet, when the great great grandson of Henry Ford began casting around for a football club to buy, he looked at the east of Scotland and found a scaled-down version of Detroit. Livingston FC were punching above their weight. Their support base was low, their artificial pitch was unpopular, their style of football was unloved, they'd been embroiled in expensive legal disputes with shareholders, cash was short and their only government bail-out came during Covid. Calvin Ford studied all of this and, the more he looked, the more he liked it. Here was a club which could have slotted straight in to his native city and fitted in perfectly. (Image: SNS Group)'We have taken a lot of heat in Detroit for being this nasty place,' Ford tells Herald Sport in his first lengthy interview since taking charge. 'The reality is that Detroit is an incredible place. A phoenix continuing the rise from the ashes and I am an incredibly proud Detroiter. 'I love this city and when I look at Livingston I see the exact same mentality. 'I see it as Livingston vs Scottish football. It kind of all plugs into us being the bad-boy team. 'This gritty, hard-working blue collar club led by a team like Davie Martindale and, you know what? That's what attracts me most. I love it.' The Livingston vs Everybody spirit helped Martindale's team to fight back from two goals down and overcome Ross County to secure promotion to the SPFL Premiership via the play-offs. After a season in the Scottish Championship there were no flags or banners or fireworks to celebrate their return to the top flight. When other teams speak of Livingston they do so through gritted teeth and Ford, for one, hopes they never change. 'We are gonna come in and we are going to have this blue-collar mentality and I think we are going to surprise a lot of people back in the Premiership,' predicts the new owner. 'I love the grit, I love the hard nose. We are going to be that team that's going to come and track some mud on your nice white carpet and leave some nasty stains.' His great great grandfather Henry introduced the first Ford assembly line in 1914, revolutionising automotive production and paving the way to mass production. While Detroit never claimed to be part of the wild west, Calvin – son of Edsel Ford II, Henry's great grandson – paints a picture of Lee Van Cleef chewing on a cigar to extend his vision of the New Livingston. 'It's like when you find yourself in this old western saloon. 'Somebody comes through the swing doors and makes everybody stop and look and think. 'And they're going, 'who the hell is that?' 'I kind of see Livingston being that guy at the doors and I like that. 'I like being the disruptor and whether it's social media or wherever there is this phrase that goes around saying that Livingston are not liked, not wanted, not bothered. 'I love that. That's what we represent and I want us to embrace that.' Calvin Ford with Livingston CEO Dave Black (Image: Alan Harvey - SNS Group) When fans of Celtic, Rangers, Hearts or Hibs think of Livi it tends to be in unflattering terms. An awkward, hard-working, physical nuisance with a worn-out pitch, bigger clubs with more money and trophies walk through the doors of the Set Fare Arena and hold their nose. Snapping up a majority shareholding from Baycup Ltd – some shareholders still contend that it wasn't Baycup's to sell in the first place – Ford has agreed to replace the old, outdated artificial surface in time for the new season. This time next year he could be forced to rip that out as well, rendering this summer's outlay an expensive waste of money. Premiership clubs have voted to ban plastic pitches and show no sign of relenting, despite talk of a challenge. Undeterred, brimming with enthusiasm, Ford could really use more hours in the day. A father of three – the youngest is just 20 months – his day job is heading up Pentastar Aviation, the aircraft charter and maintenance operation purchased by his father from Daimler-Chrysler. He also serves on the board of the CATCH charity, working with two local children's hospitals and is a director of Henry Ford Health, a notfor-profit healthcare organisation in Michigan. With all this going on it comes as a surprise to learn that he ever found the time to watch Succession, HBO's saga revolving around Scots expat media magnate Logan Roy and his squabbling offspring. 'I loved that scene in season two,' he laughs. 'Logan's son Roman buys Hearts and of course Logan Roy was a Hibs fan, so that was a terrible mistake by Roman. 'But, you know, I don't think I'm another American making a terrible mistake at all. 'One of the things that was most attractive to me about Livingston is that you have this club west of Edinburgh sandwiched in between behemoths like Hearts and Hibernian and Celtic and Rangers. 'Livingston are right there kind of in the middle and all I ask myself is, 'what can this become? 'How do we disrupt Scottish football in a really cool way? 'What do we need to do to stay in the Premier League and really be a disruptor? 'Historically speaking that's challenging because you have these traditional classic big Scottish clubs on either side. 'But why can't we disrupt? Why can't we be a club that does something and I think there is a real opportunity there for us to do that.' Consolidation in the top division is the first target, Europe the next. He texts David Martindale day and night and Livi have been busier than any other Premiership club in the opening days of the transfer market, snapping up Stevie May, Graham Carey, Cammy Kerr, Connor McLennan, Zak Rudden and Shane Blaney. 'I think the Europa Conference League is something that we can do and I think becoming a top-five team is something that we can do. 'I have said that to Davie and he understands that and believes it too. 'Year one I want to be competitive in the Premiership. I want to make sure that we are back there next year and I think we are putting together a team right now that can absolutely do that.' Read more: He has a vision of a sust ainable club, standing on its own two feet and that's easier said than done when the average attendance can be less than 4000. Plans to draw sell out crowds to a small town where fans leave for Edinburgh and Glasgow on a fleet of buses every week pose the kind of challenge his great great grandfather might have baulked at. 'There is this enclosed stadium and I immediately thought, 'what's this going to look like when we fill this place with 9000 Livingston supporters?' 'I think we can get there. I really do. 'It's about giving the Livingston community a football club that they can be a proud of. 'A team that can combat the Hearts and Hibs bits of Edinburgh and Rangers and Celtic in Glasgow. 'I'm a realist. I understand that it's going to take a while to build that back but we have the foundations in place.' The battle for hearts and minds is already underway. His father Edsel is close friends with a legendary Formula One champion who is now the proud owner of a Livingston home shirt. 'Sir Jackie Stewart is obviously a very famous Scot and I think he has a history of being a Rangers fan. I want to convert him into being a Livingston fan. 'I don't think it will ever happen. But I did send him a Livingston jersey as a birthday present...' The family firm's blue oval is one of the most readily recognisable corporate emblems on the planet and, as a younger man Ford admits to taking his background for granted. His 11-year-old son has woken up to the fact that being a Ford in Detroit is a little like being a royal in Windsor. The name comes with expectations and responsibilities and scrutiny he once wore with a casual indifference. Older and wiser, he now cares too much about the family reputation to start throwing silly money at Livingston. 'Back in the day I thought my surname was neat and said, 'that's wonderful.' And probably didn't give it much of a second thought. We all grow up, we all mature, we all evolve. 'I understand now that when you grow up in Detroit and you are a Ford that does that comes with some subjective expectations. I guess it does. 'I was an employee of the motor company for a while but now I find myself an advocate of the company and the family and I am very proud of what Ford does and what we stand for. 'And, when I look at what we want to do at Livingston, I keep Ford Motor Company in mind. 'This is an evolution. I'm not going to come in and pump billions of dollars into it, but I do think that we can create and build and sustain something at Livingston much like Ford has done for the 123 years it has been around.'
The Herald Scotland
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Herald Scotland
Ford determined to tap into Livingston's Detroit mentality
On the streets of the Motor City defiance has become a state of mind. Tommey Walker, a local designer, launched a 'Detroit vs Everybody' fashion brand in 2012. Two years later rapper Eminem produced a song by the same name on his Slim Shady XV album. The phrase is a symbol of the underdog spirit which helped Michigan's industrial capital survive a government bail out of an ailing automobile industry in 2008. Located 15 miles west of Edinburgh, Livingston has no history of producing cars. Outwith a bewildering number of roundabouts, there is no real history of building anything at all. Yet, when the great great grandson of Henry Ford began casting around for a football club to buy, he looked at the east of Scotland and found a scaled-down version of Detroit. Livingston FC were punching above their weight. Their support base was low, their artificial pitch was unpopular, their style of football was unloved, they'd been embroiled in expensive legal disputes with shareholders, cash was short and their only government bail-out came during Covid. Calvin Ford studied all of this and, the more he looked, the more he liked it. Here was a club which could have slotted straight in to his native city and fitted in perfectly. (Image: SNS Group)'We have taken a lot of heat in Detroit for being this nasty place,' Ford tells Herald Sport in his first lengthy interview since taking charge. 'The reality is that Detroit is an incredible place. A phoenix continuing the rise from the ashes and I am an incredibly proud Detroiter. 'I love this city and when I look at Livingston I see the exact same mentality. 'I see it as Livingston vs Scottish football. It kind of all plugs into us being the bad-boy team. 'This gritty, hard-working blue collar club led by a team like Davie Martindale and, you know what? That's what attracts me most. I love it.' The Livingston vs Everybody spirit helped Martindale's team to fight back from two goals down and overcome Ross County to secure promotion to the SPFL Premiership via the play-offs. After a season in the Scottish Championship there were no flags or banners or fireworks to celebrate their return to the top flight. When other teams speak of Livingston they do so through gritted teeth and Ford, for one, hopes they never change. 'We are gonna come in and we are going to have this blue-collar mentality and I think we are going to surprise a lot of people back in the Premiership,' predicts the new owner. 'I love the grit, I love the hard nose. We are going to be that team that's going to come and track some mud on your nice white carpet and leave some nasty stains.' His great great grandfather Henry introduced the first Ford assembly line in 1914, revolutionising automotive production and paving the way to mass production. While Detroit never claimed to be part of the wild west, Calvin – son of Edsel Ford II, Henry's great grandson – paints a picture of Lee Van Cleef chewing on a cigar to extend his vision of the New Livingston. 'It's like when you find yourself in this old western saloon. 'Somebody comes through the swing doors and makes everybody stop and look and think. 'And they're going, 'who the hell is that?' 'I kind of see Livingston being that guy at the doors and I like that. 'I like being the disruptor and whether it's social media or wherever there is this phrase that goes around saying that Livingston are not liked, not wanted, not bothered. 'I love that. That's what we represent and I want us to embrace that.' Calvin Ford with Livingston CEO Dave Black (Image: Alan Harvey - SNS Group) When fans of Celtic, Rangers, Hearts or Hibs think of Livi it tends to be in unflattering terms. An awkward, hard-working, physical nuisance with a worn-out pitch, bigger clubs with more money and trophies walk through the doors of the Set Fare Arena and hold their nose. Snapping up a majority shareholding from Baycup Ltd – some shareholders still contend that it wasn't Baycup's to sell in the first place – Ford has agreed to replace the old, outdated artificial surface in time for the new season. This time next year he could be forced to rip that out as well, rendering this summer's outlay an expensive waste of money. Premiership clubs have voted to ban plastic pitches and show no sign of relenting, despite talk of a challenge. Undeterred, brimming with enthusiasm, Ford could really use more hours in the day. A father of three – the youngest is just 20 months – his day job is heading up Pentastar Aviation, the aircraft charter and maintenance operation purchased by his father from Daimler-Chrysler. He also serves on the board of the CATCH charity, working with two local children's hospitals and is a director of Henry Ford Health, a notfor-profit healthcare organisation in Michigan. With all this going on it comes as a surprise to learn that he ever found the time to watch Succession, HBO's saga revolving around Scots expat media magnate Logan Roy and his squabbling offspring. 'I loved that scene in season two,' he laughs. 'Logan's son Roman buys Hearts and of course Logan Roy was a Hibs fan, so that was a terrible mistake by Roman. 'But, you know, I don't think I'm another American making a terrible mistake at all. 'One of the things that was most attractive to me about Livingston is that you have this club west of Edinburgh sandwiched in between behemoths like Hearts and Hibernian and Celtic and Rangers. 'Livingston are right there kind of in the middle and all I ask myself is, 'what can this become? 'How do we disrupt Scottish football in a really cool way? 'What do we need to do to stay in the Premier League and really be a disruptor? 'Historically speaking that's challenging because you have these traditional classic big Scottish clubs on either side. 'But why can't we disrupt? Why can't we be a club that does something and I think there is a real opportunity there for us to do that.' Consolidation in the top division is the first target, Europe the next. He texts David Martindale day and night and Livi have been busier than any other Premiership club in the opening days of the transfer market, snapping up Stevie May, Graham Carey, Cammy Kerr, Connor McLennan, Zak Rudden and Shane Blaney. 'I think the Europa Conference League is something that we can do and I think becoming a top-five team is something that we can do. 'I have said that to Davie and he understands that and believes it too. 'Year one I want to be competitive in the Premiership. I want to make sure that we are back there next year and I think we are putting together a team right now that can absolutely do that.' Read more: He has a vision of a sust ainable club, standing on its own two feet and that's easier said than done when the average attendance can be less than 4000. Plans to draw sell out crowds to a small town where fans leave for Edinburgh and Glasgow on a fleet of buses every week pose the kind of challenge his great great grandfather might have baulked at. 'There is this enclosed stadium and I immediately thought, 'what's this going to look like when we fill this place with 9000 Livingston supporters?' 'I think we can get there. I really do. 'It's about giving the Livingston community a football club that they can be a proud of. 'A team that can combat the Hearts and Hibs bits of Edinburgh and Rangers and Celtic in Glasgow. 'I'm a realist. I understand that it's going to take a while to build that back but we have the foundations in place.' The battle for hearts and minds is already underway. His father Edsel is close friends with a legendary Formula One champion who is now the proud owner of a Livingston home shirt. 'Sir Jackie Stewart is obviously a very famous Scot and I think he has a history of being a Rangers fan. I want to convert him into being a Livingston fan. 'I don't think it will ever happen. But I did send him a Livingston jersey as a birthday present...' The family firm's blue oval is one of the most readily recognisable corporate emblems on the planet and, as a younger man Ford admits to taking his background for granted. His 11-year-old son has woken up to the fact that being a Ford in Detroit is a little like being a royal in Windsor. The name comes with expectations and responsibilities and scrutiny he once wore with a casual indifference. Older and wiser, he now cares too much about the family reputation to start throwing silly money at Livingston. 'Back in the day I thought my surname was neat and said, 'that's wonderful.' And probably didn't give it much of a second thought. We all grow up, we all mature, we all evolve. 'I understand now that when you grow up in Detroit and you are a Ford that does that comes with some subjective expectations. I guess it does. 'I was an employee of the motor company for a while but now I find myself an advocate of the company and the family and I am very proud of what Ford does and what we stand for. 'And, when I look at what we want to do at Livingston, I keep Ford Motor Company in mind. 'This is an evolution. I'm not going to come in and pump billions of dollars into it, but I do think that we can create and build and sustain something at Livingston much like Ford has done for the 123 years it has been around.'
Daily Record
a day ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Kilmarnock learn SPFL Premiership fixtures as they host newly promoted Livingston in opener
The league season gets up and running on August 2 Kilmarnock kick off their SPFL Premiership campaign with a home clash against newly-promoted Livingston on August 2. It comes just two weeks after the clubs play each other at Rugby Park in the Premier Sports Cup group stage. Stuart Kettlewell's side have been handed what on paper appears to be a relatively favourable opening month with their visit of Livingston being followed with an away clash at Hibs (August 9), home tie against Dundee (August 23) and their new gaffer's first trip to his old club Motherwell on August 30. The pre-split fixtures are set to end on the weekend of April 11 with Killie being scheduled to face Dundee away from home. Other games of note are Derek McInnes' first visit to Rugby Park after leaving for Hearts on October 18 while this year's festive fixtures include a home clash against Falkirk (December 20), away trips to St Mirren (December 27) and Dundee (December 30) before Hibs are Killie's first footers of 2026 on January 3. For the full fixtures, click here.
The National
14-06-2025
- Business
- The National
Adam Webb: Health battle, 49ers impact, Championship 'reset'
In September, weeks after he purchased the club, the 54-year-old temporarily stepped back from the chair to undergo invasive treatment for cancer of the neck and the head. Far from adding to his health issues, a futile battle to prevent relegation from the SPFL Premiership proved a useful and welcome distraction. Watching football helped to take his mind off chemotherapy, radiation and the efforts to save his life. 'You don't know how something like that is going to affect you,' he tells Herald Sport now. 'You might think, 'that's gonna happen and I'm just going to forget all about football.' Read more: 'Luckily, St Johnstone actually proved a great distraction from my health problem. 'I was dealing with that for six months or thereabouts. I was aware of the cancer in the summer but I didn't start treatment until September and received a cancer free scan in late January. 'I ratcheted back my involvement in the day to day operations of the club, just because I worried that would caused anxiety or hurt my sleep and be counter productive to my health. 'But I watched all the games and that was a great distraction in-fact. It was something to take my mind off things and get passionate about even though, unfortunately, we were not winning most of our games. 'I'm sure that did cause some anxiety from time to time but on the whole you have to accept that, when you have this level of involvement in a football club, you can't turn it off. And, what's more, you don't want to turn it off.' A lawyer to trade Webb is one of the growing number of American investors exerting a growing influence on Scottish football. Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United, Hibernian and Livingston have all accepted sizeable financial assistance from the United States. And St Johnstone's chairman expects the arrival of Andrew Cavenagh and the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers at Rangers to take the Americanisation of the Scottish game to a whole new level. Projected to rejuvenate commercial revenue off the pitch while targeting a sustained challenge to Celtic on it, the full impact of the 49ers group on one of the nation's sporting institutions will be determined over time. A global sporting franchise, Webb believes the influence of vice-chairman Paraag Marathe and the 49ers on the fabric of the Scottish game to be significant. His only regret is that the financial spin-offs for St Johnstone will be less than they would have been had the Perth club avoided relegation and retained place in the top flight. 'I think change is inevitably going to happen because people like the 49ers take things to a whole different level,' the Saints chairman told Herald Sport. 'They have huge marketing departments behind them and people they can call upon to come in and do more global branding and be tied in with more incredible events. 'Then you have Bill Foley and his operation, which not only has Bournemouth but also a very successful hockey club in the United States. 'So I think that a growing influence is going to happen and it's probably going to be unavoidable because of those massive international multi-club owning entities which are now involved.' While there is no good season for a club to be relegated, St Johnstone's drop through the trap door is poorly timed. Manager Simo Valakari has just spent three days with Webb in Atlanta plotting a reset of the squad and operations, with cost economies on the horizon to offset an anticipated annual loss of up to £2million. Prepared to absorb the losses in the short term Webb wants to trim the waste to avoid creating a black hole and plans to 'think outside of the box' in a quest to get the club back to the top flight in a sustainable and challenging condition. Buoyed by the arrival of more American investment in the national game the Saints owner is enthused by the job ahead. 'I think it's a great challenge. We have to do a lot of things differently, so it really is a reset, a refresh. 'However you want to characterise it we have to tighten our belt because revenues are going to be way down. 'TV revenue, UEFA solidarity revenue, FIFA revenue, league revenue. That's all way down, so we have to tighten the belt and look at all the expenditure. 'We have to come up with new sources of revenue and excitement and we have some things in that area. 'We have added a digital scoreboard, we have added sideline LED panels, we have started a matchday fan-zone. 'If we have our way we will eventually be selling beer in our fan zone before every home game. 'We'll have more hospitality areas that can do more to upsell and get people to spend more time and more money at McDiarmid Park. 'So we are doing all that we can do, but I think that it's gonna happen across Scotland. 'And I think the reason it's gonna happen is because you now have these really well established global sporting brands coming into the SPFL now and I think that's going to lift us all. 'I'm not intimidated by it. Okay, I am intimidated by it, but I'm not scared. 'The big picture is that it's a net positive. Even though the task of competing with these teams and these brands is intimidating it's still going to be a rising tide that is going to lift all boats.' Facing their first season without Premiership football in 16 years St Johnstone are evaluating what comes next. Plans for the future revolve around a quick return to the top flight, with manager Simo Valakari set to play a central role. July 12 and the first Premier Sports Cup tie – away to newly promoted East Kilbride – is already marked in the chairman's diary. 'Simo was just here in Atlanta. He spent three nights in Atlanta with his wife. 'And so we had a lot of meetings here and he is a unique element of Scottish football, to my way of thinking. 'I haven't seen anyone else like him in the game. He is open, transparent, fun loving, energetic and knows his football. 'He had a great playing career and a great coaching career. We haven't seen the benefits yet at St Johnstone but nearly everyone I speak with is confident that Simo is the right man for the job. 'And so, even though we got relegated, there were no calls for him to go. I didn't see any calls for Simo to get sacked and even if there had been we wouldn't have sacked him anyway because I feel like you have to give a gaffer a chance to put their own squad around them.' Webb returns to Scotland on July 11, when he will have dinner with his predecessor Geoff Brown, St Johnstone's irascible custodian for three decades. Describing Brown as a 'legend' the American still marvels at the way he ran the club as a sustainable entity for so long. 'I think we have been public that we will have a nearly £2million revenue shortfall,' he admits. 'Obviously we are making some cuts and trimming and belt tightening to hopefully avoid losing as much as £2million. 'But we will have a substantial loss this season and if we go back up we will the belt tightened and we will have a new streamlined operation."
The Herald Scotland
14-06-2025
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
Adam Webb: Health battle, 49ers impact, Championship 'reset'
Far from adding to his health issues, a futile battle to prevent relegation from the SPFL Premiership proved a useful and welcome distraction. Watching football helped to take his mind off chemotherapy, radiation and the efforts to save his life. 'You don't know how something like that is going to affect you,' he tells Herald Sport now. 'You might think, 'that's gonna happen and I'm just going to forget all about football.' Read more: 'Luckily, St Johnstone actually proved a great distraction from my health problem. 'I was dealing with that for six months or thereabouts. I was aware of the cancer in the summer but I didn't start treatment until September and received a cancer free scan in late January. 'I ratcheted back my involvement in the day to day operations of the club, just because I worried that would caused anxiety or hurt my sleep and be counter productive to my health. 'But I watched all the games and that was a great distraction in-fact. It was something to take my mind off things and get passionate about even though, unfortunately, we were not winning most of our games. 'I'm sure that did cause some anxiety from time to time but on the whole you have to accept that, when you have this level of involvement in a football club, you can't turn it off. And, what's more, you don't want to turn it off.' A lawyer to trade Webb is one of the growing number of American investors exerting a growing influence on Scottish football. Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United, Hibernian and Livingston have all accepted sizeable financial assistance from the United States. And St Johnstone's chairman expects the arrival of Andrew Cavenagh and the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers at Rangers to take the Americanisation of the Scottish game to a whole new level. Projected to rejuvenate commercial revenue off the pitch while targeting a sustained challenge to Celtic on it, the full impact of the 49ers group on one of the nation's sporting institutions will be determined over time. A global sporting franchise, Webb believes the influence of vice-chairman Paraag Marathe and the 49ers on the fabric of the Scottish game to be significant. His only regret is that the financial spin-offs for St Johnstone will be less than they would have been had the Perth club avoided relegation and retained place in the top flight. 'I think change is inevitably going to happen because people like the 49ers take things to a whole different level,' the Saints chairman told Herald Sport. 'They have huge marketing departments behind them and people they can call upon to come in and do more global branding and be tied in with more incredible events. 'Then you have Bill Foley and his operation, which not only has Bournemouth but also a very successful hockey club in the United States. 'So I think that a growing influence is going to happen and it's probably going to be unavoidable because of those massive international multi-club owning entities which are now involved.' While there is no good season for a club to be relegated, St Johnstone's drop through the trap door is poorly timed. Manager Simo Valakari has just spent three days with Webb in Atlanta plotting a reset of the squad and operations, with cost economies on the horizon to offset an anticipated annual loss of up to £2million. Prepared to absorb the losses in the short term Webb wants to trim the waste to avoid creating a black hole and plans to 'think outside of the box' in a quest to get the club back to the top flight in a sustainable and challenging condition. Buoyed by the arrival of more American investment in the national game the Saints owner is enthused by the job ahead. 'I think it's a great challenge. We have to do a lot of things differently, so it really is a reset, a refresh. 'However you want to characterise it we have to tighten our belt because revenues are going to be way down. 'TV revenue, UEFA solidarity revenue, FIFA revenue, league revenue. That's all way down, so we have to tighten the belt and look at all the expenditure. 'We have to come up with new sources of revenue and excitement and we have some things in that area. 'We have added a digital scoreboard, we have added sideline LED panels, we have started a matchday fan-zone. 'If we have our way we will eventually be selling beer in our fan zone before every home game. 'We'll have more hospitality areas that can do more to upsell and get people to spend more time and more money at McDiarmid Park. 'So we are doing all that we can do, but I think that it's gonna happen across Scotland. 'And I think the reason it's gonna happen is because you now have these really well established global sporting brands coming into the SPFL now and I think that's going to lift us all. 'I'm not intimidated by it. Okay, I am intimidated by it, but I'm not scared. 'The big picture is that it's a net positive. Even though the task of competing with these teams and these brands is intimidating it's still going to be a rising tide that is going to lift all boats.' Facing their first season without Premiership football in 16 years St Johnstone are evaluating what comes next. Plans for the future revolve around a quick return to the top flight, with manager Simo Valakari set to play a central role. July 12 and the first Premier Sports Cup tie – away to newly promoted East Kilbride – is already marked in the chairman's diary. 'Simo was just here in Atlanta. He spent three nights in Atlanta with his wife. 'And so we had a lot of meetings here and he is a unique element of Scottish football, to my way of thinking. 'I haven't seen anyone else like him in the game. He is open, transparent, fun loving, energetic and knows his football. 'He had a great playing career and a great coaching career. We haven't seen the benefits yet at St Johnstone but nearly everyone I speak with is confident that Simo is the right man for the job. 'And so, even though we got relegated, there were no calls for him to go. I didn't see any calls for Simo to get sacked and even if there had been we wouldn't have sacked him anyway because I feel like you have to give a gaffer a chance to put their own squad around them.' Webb returns to Scotland on July 11, when he will have dinner with his predecessor Geoff Brown, St Johnstone's irascible custodian for three decades. Describing Brown as a 'legend' the American still marvels at the way he ran the club as a sustainable entity for so long. 'I think we have been public that we will have a nearly £2million revenue shortfall,' he admits. 'Obviously we are making some cuts and trimming and belt tightening to hopefully avoid losing as much as £2million. 'But we will have a substantial loss this season and if we go back up we will the belt tightened and we will have a new streamlined operation."
