Callum Davidson urges St Johnstone to take inspiration from Queen’s Park

Callum Davidson has told former club St Johnstone to take inspiration from the Scottish Cup shock his Queen’s Park side pulled off against Rangers as the Perth club prepare for their semi-final showdown with Celtic on Sunday.

The 48-year-old led Saints to their stunning 2021 League Cup and Scottish Cup double triumph, and then produced another huge result when he oversaw second-tier Queen’s Park’s 1-0 away win over Rangers in the fifth round in February, before being sacked just over a month later.

Davidson, promoting Premier Sports’ live coverage of this weekend’s semi-finals, told Saints they must believe they can pull off another “magic moment” in the competition when they face a Celtic side currently 52 points ahead of them in the William Hill Premiership.

“That’s why we love cup competitions, I think you realise how special it is when you think of the magic moments in the history of the game and the history of the cup,” said the former Scotland international.

“We managed to achieve one at Queen’s Park earlier on, which was a phenomenal achievement. Hopefully St Johnstone can have a look at that and go, ‘right, we have an opportunity to do that as well’. It will be a huge upset if St Johnstone win. They have got to be on their game and Celtic have to have a wee off day.

“I watched Celtic last weekend (in their 5-1 win over Kilmarnock) and they were phenomenal to start the game. Hopefully they don’t start like that.”

Davidson admits the physical and mental toll of facing Celtic in a semi-final could prove “a hindrance” to Saints’ hopes of overcoming a five-point deficit at the bottom of the league and avoiding relegation.

“You get judged probably by your league performances so I think it would be the league first and foremost for the financial security of the club, but they won’t be thinking about it like that,” he said. “They’ll think, ‘come on, let’s have a go. Let’s see what we can do’.”

Saints can also draw encouragement from having defeated Brendan Rodgers’ side 1-0 in the league this month.

“It has to give them big belief that they can actually get a result,” said Davidson. “That they know there’s a way they can play that can hurt Celtic and cause them problems.

“They are the form team in Scottish football, they’ve obviously won the majority of trophies in the last five or six years, so it will be really tough, but that belief has to be there. You’ve got to go into the game thinking, ‘right, we have an opportunity’.”