Reviewed by: Pat Byington
Alabama-based owners help Scottish club to league title
Reading time: 6 minutes
Alabama connections to the global soccer world are becoming less of a rarity than they once were (look at Chris Richards for one example).
Across the pond is also St. Johnstone Football Club located in Perth, Scotland. In 2024, a group of Americans bought the club including Chris Davis and Jeff Hardwick, two minority owners who live here in Alabama.
After a tough first season, the club bounced back in a big way, winning the Scottish Championship league title and earning promotion back to the Premiership.
And Davis + Hardwick got to be there for the big celebrations.
Keep reading to learn more about their connection with St. Johnstone + about their historic season.
St. Johnstone FC
Around three years ago, Chris Davis said he was at an event when a friend approached him, talking about a connection who was thinking about buying a club in Europe.
That connection was Adam Webb, who is now the majority owner of St. Johnstone. And it didn’t take long for Davis to show interest, joining the bid and bringing in his brother-in-law Jeff Hardwick.
Those three along with six others formed the ownership group “Saints in America” before taking over the team in 2024.
“I remember when I talked to my wife about it and I’m like this is gonna sound crazy. I know this is some money, you know, and I’ll never get something like this again. Let’s just roll the dice. Let’s just see what happens, you know?… I had no idea, no intention, no thought process, and when it came along, I was like, man, this is too good to be true.”
Chris Davis, St. Johnstone FC minority owner
The club was founded in 1884 and the team is known as The Saints. They play at McDiarmid Park, a stadium owned by the club.
St. Johnstone had played in the top division in Scotland since 2009 but in the first season under new ownership, the club was relegated, recording its lowest points total since 2002.
That kind of season with new owners certainly caused some extra pressure to build from the fanbase.
“I’m sure after that first year, it was kind of like, ‘whoa, we’re getting relegated and what’s happening?’ But I’ll tell you, I got a piece of that this weekend, but I think Adam (Webb) has done a really, really, really good job in community outreach in Perth. He has just embraced the community of Perth and Adam’s made some big changes and has done some good things around the stadium and you can tell that he’s really trying to invest not only in the players and the coaches, that has to be paramount, but other things outside of necessarily what’s on the field, right?”
Chris Davis
Scottish Championship
After being relegated to the second division, the pressure was on the ownership and the players to get back to the top level.
Plenty of changes were made to the lineup but coach Simo Valakari stayed on to lead the way. And from the start of the season, St. Johnstone took control.
The Saints were unbeaten through their first 10 league matches, taking over the top of the table and never letting go. St. Johnstone secured the league title on April 21 with a 2-0 win at Dunfermline Athletic.
“I wasn’t over there, but Matt and Chet were the 2 other owners. And I think it was a party royale. I mean I think it lasted into the next morning. And, you know, so that’s Wednesday, right? And so obviously they probably didn’t train on Wednesday, Thursday, you know. So we didn’t know what to expect on Friday.”
Chris Davis
But the team returned to play at home Friday in front of a packed stadium with fans ready to celebrate. And Davis got to be overseas for the party this time.
“I tell you, that game was something. You had that, you had the stadium to near capacity. The crowd was thumping… Our guys look like the title was on the line that night, they weren’t playing like they clinched it already. This was just icing on the cake. I mean, we dominated that game from the outset, it was neat to see.”
St. Johnstone wrapped up its season Friday night with a 1-0 win on the road, finishing with 77 points in the league and 11 points clear of second place. That’s the record for most points in season in the Scottish Championship.
Scottish football in each of these little townships and communities, it’s like Alabama, Auburn for them. Maybe even more so because it’s there’s it’s such a tight community, you know?… You could see what it meant, not just for winning and losing, but what it meant to community. It made me feel like, hey, I have a bigger responsibility.”
Chris Davis
What comes next?
Davis said it took some time for the community to realize the ownership group was in it for the long haul instead of just a quick turn investment.
But now that St. Johnstone is back in the top division of Scottish football, they have high hopes for what comes next.
“We want to make St. Johnstone football the pride of Perth… The best thing for any team sport is winning. Winning does a lot of things for you. Eyes on TV, butts in the seats, buying merchandise, all the things you need. But also player development. We’ve spent a lot of money on our academy facilities because we realize that’s the pipeline to a club.”
Chris Davis
Those are just some of the things in the works at St. Johnstone, which also includes a professional women’s side.
The Saints will play in the Premiership in the 2026-27 season along with the likes of big name clubs like Celtic and Rangers. The season will get underway in August.
