Ross County manager Malky Mackay is pleased St Johnstone stayed true to tradition by keeping faith in Callum Davidson last season.
Saints host the Staggies in Saturday’s Premiership fixture, with Scottish football making its return following a brief shutdown due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Although Davidson led Saints to a remarkable cup double in his first season in charge, the Perth outfit toiled against the threat of relegation throughout most of last term.
They ultimately remained in the top flight, courtesy of a play-off final victory over Caley Thistle.
Mackay believes weaker chairmen could have folded under the pressure that came the way of Steve Brown, who has continued to give Davidson his backing into the new campaign.
Mackay said: “I’ve got great respect for Callum. He did something for St Johnstone that, in my opinion, will never be achieved again.
“Come the end of that season, they lost two or three really important players.
“Last season was a tough ride for him. I’m glad he got through it and they stayed up.
“I’m not surprised, but I’m also glad that the Browns stayed true to generally what they have been as an ownership of the football club, in terms of their loyalty to managers.
“You could have seen other clubs doing something different there, and I’m glad that didn’t happen and they didn’t bow to pressure at times. There was a tough period for him last year.”
Mackay braced for different Saints test this season
County enjoyed the upper hand over Saints last season, taking seven points from a possible nine.
Mackay anticipates a different challenge this time around.
He added: “Clearly there has been a bit of backing, because some experienced players have been brought into the club again.
“That changes the dynamics of that team again. That’s not last year’s team, and it will be a tough game for us down there as any away game is.
“We’ve got to go down there and make sure we compete to start with, and see where it goes. We will look to have minutes of quality, and negate theirs.”
New faces add to Saints’ attacking threat
Saints added fresh attacking threats before the summer transfer deadline, with Connor McLennan brought in on loan from Aberdeen and Nicky Clark signing permanently from Dundee United.
The pair got their McDiarmid Park careers off to a flying start, by helping Davidson’s men defeat St Mirren 3-0 in their last outing.
Mackay expects to face a confident side, adding: “There was that first few weeks of the window, then it seemed to calm down.
“Then in the last couple of days of the window we saw a flurry again when various teams brought in two or three.
“It’s going to be another month or six weeks before we see everyone start to settle, everybody knows what people can do and how teams are playing.
“Most games are like this just now. We need to make sure, like everywhere, we do our work on every team we play against.”
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