Hearts hero reveals contract talks with ex-Jambos boss that went awry after pay-cut declaration
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Former Hearts star Ryan McGowan has revealed details on his recent collapse in talks with St Johnstone. The 35-year-old was eager to remain at McDiarmid Park beyond the summer but a tough switch in the narrative left him without a club extremely late on.
The Australian has since signed for Championship side Livingston but has admitted that he would have taken a pay cut in order to stay with the Saints. His desire to remain at the club was made clear but the situation became tangled under then-manager Craig Levein. The ex-Hearts boss was sacked in September after just 10 months in charge, following a run of four straight defeats with St Johnstone.
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Hide AdDespite being open to having his wages reduced, McGowan was eventually informed that he would need to look for a new team. Following Adam Webb’s takeover of the club from long-term owner Geoff Brown, there was not enough cash left in the budget to offer him a sensible renewal.
Speaking on The Courier’s St Johnstone podcast, McGowan discussed his meeting with Levein and Andy Kirk after the season ended.
“I was going on holiday the next day and they said to just go on holiday and switch off and they’d have something over in a week or so. So I went on holiday, then it had probably been about a week, 10 days, and I hadn’t heard anything. I started getting a little bit nervous, messaged the gaffer again just to say: ‘Hey, has anything changed? Are we still on the same page?’
“He’s like: ‘Listen, there are possibly new owners coming in, I don’t really have my budget just yet, but nothing’s changed, I’m still keen to get you across.’
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Hide Ad“He said it probably wouldn’t be on the same money that I was on previously, but I said: ‘Listen, I understand how football works. Let’s see what the offer is and we’ll go from there.’ But I was under no illusions. We’d spoken about that in the meeting, that they had to make cuts and I wasn’t going to get the same deal. I wasn’t even looking to get the same deal I was on previously.”
McGowan then pressed further for answers as it reached a week before the start of pre-season. With no update regarding his position at the club, worries started to rise and he asked outright whether he needed to be exploring other avenues.
“I spoke to them and said: ‘Listen, if it looks like I possibly may or may not get a deal, I need to look out for myself. Should I start looking at other options? Again, it was like: ‘No, don’t worry about it, I’ll have something over to you and we can sort it out.’
“Then, the Friday before we were due in on the Monday, he called and said: ‘I’m so sorry, we don’t have anything for you and what’s left in the budget, I wouldn’t even offend you.’
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Hide Ad“It kind of left me, not scrambling, but everyone was pretty much back in on Monday and any clubs I did speak to were under the impression I was staying with St Johnstone, so they’d already sent out a couple of contracts.”
Fortunately, McGowan signed for Livingston on a two-year contract after Levein made manager David Martindale aware of his availability on a free transfer. The 35-year-old has set his sights on pushing the Lions back up to the Scottish Premiership following their relegation last season.