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St Johnstone have been mainstays of the Scottish Premiership since 2009 – but their 16-year top-flight residence is over.

Defeat by Hearts in the penultimate game of the season – while Ross County salvaged a last-gasp point at Dens Park – sealed their fate.

Manager Simo Valakari, appointed in October with St Johnstone sitting 10th, has vowed to fight on and announced his intent to lead next season’s promotion push.

“I want to stay,” he told BBC Scotland. “I want to rebuild this club and be successful with this club.”

“We are crying tonight and tomorrow but always looking forward,” he added. “This season is history. We need to change things and get this beautiful club back to winning ways.

“It’s hard to play in relegation battles but it’s even harder to play for promotion. That’s what our aim is and that’s what we start doing the day after tomorrow.

“We have already started preparing.”

Ultimately, it took too long for Valakari’s brand of football to be reflected in an upturn of results, though St Johnstone did beat champions Celtic and reach the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

But the numbers have long been stacked against them, and you don’t have to delve too deeply to see they’ve been struggling for a while.

For former St Johnstone midfielder, Murray Davidson, their troubles have been “building for years”.

While the finger is usually pointed at the manager – and he does have to shoulder some blame – you also must bear in mind Valakari was brought in with the summer transfer window long since closed.

The Finn has largely had to work with what was already there and, while he was able to make some changes to his squad in January, turning around a ship already heading for choppy waters in a short period of time is a tall order.

Are the factors that have led to St Johnstone’s plight more deep rooted?

Former midfielder Davidson, who spent 14 years at McDiarmid Park, believes “it has been building for years”.

Tommy Wright presided over a seven-year spell during which he led the side to their first Scottish Cup win in 2014, as well as European campaigns and top-six finishes.

Those foundations were initially built on by assistant and successor Callum Davidson, who oversaw a remarkable domestic cup double in season 2020-21.

However, such stability has been lacking of late and has coincided with a downturn in fortunes.

Following Davidson’s near three-year spell, the club appointed another rookie boss – former striker Steven MacLean, who lasted just seven months.

St Johnstone then turned to veteran Craig Levein, who was in the post for 10 months before being replaced by Valakari in October, becoming their fourth manager in 19 months.

Regularly changing managers, all with their own ideas and the inevitable churn of players that comes with that, rarely delivers success.

“There were players signed who were nowhere near good enough,” Davidson told BBC Scotland.

Overly nearly four decades, St Johnstone were transformed under the ownership of Geoff Brown.

Davidson says the businessman and his son Steve, who succeeded his father as chairman, “were unbelievable for me and for St Johnstone”.

He suggests “there was a core of 13, 14, 15 players” and they only needed to add three or four each season to ensure continuity.

“They weren’t the biggest-paying club, and we weren’t going to get the ball and play 30 passes, but everybody bought into what was successful and what it meant to people,” Davidson said.

“Towards the end of my career, that wasn’t happening. You were going in, there were two or three of us left, there were people coming in who didn’t know the league, didn’t know what the club was about.”

Having announced in December 2022 that he was selling the club, it was not until summer 2024 that American businessman Adam Webb took over from Brown.

There will inevitably have been a period of uncertainty in the intervening 18 months – and uncertainty rarely creates an environment conducive to success.

“The last eight, nine, 10 windows, they have had to panic buy,” Davidson adds.

Now the club great hopes they can return to the stability and success of the not too distant past.

With relatively new owners at the helm and with a manager who wants to try to play the right way, the future could still be bright for the McDiarmid Park club.

After the club’s Premier League status, West Ham’s commitment to permanently sign Jean-Clair Todibo on loan has been fulfilled.

The Ligue 1 side’s summer-long loan, which included a potential commitment to sign the French defender full-time, ended with the signing of the French international.

Although the terms of the deal have remained secret, several sources have told BBC Sport that West Ham’s main stipulation in a permanent deal was keeping their Premier League status.

That was confirmed on Saturday when Ipswich became the final club’s relegation to the Championship.

According to what sources, the fee to make Todibo’s deal permanent is £36.3 million (42.5% euros).

In a season that has been partially hampered by injury, Todibo has made 25 appearances for the Hammers.

The Brighton defeat on Saturday marked Graham Potter’s side’s seventh game in a row without a victory, with four of those losses coming from his side.

After Julen Lopetegui’s dismissal from David Moyes last summer, Potter was appointed in January.

Before Saturday’s defeat at the Amex Stadium, Todibo said: “We’ve definitely felt a lot of frustration, and we need to work more, but we are in a good way.”

Sebastian Sawe won the men’s race, while Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia set a world record for a women’s only field, while Sebastian Sawe of Kenya clinched the women’s race.

With 10 kilometers to go, Olympic silver medalist Assefa surpassed Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei in two hours, 15 minutes, and 50 seconds.

By 26 seconds, Assefa broke Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya’s previous record set in London last year.

Jepkosgei came in second place, nearly three minutes behind, with Dutch Olympian Sifan Hassan, the 2023 winner, in third place.

With just over 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) left to go, debutant Sawe started the men’s race, finishing in 2: 02: 27.

On his full-marathon debut, Ugandan half-marathon champion Jacob Kiplimo was over a minute off the lead, and 2024 champion Alexander Mutiso Munyao placed third.

Olympic triathlete Alex Yee placed 14th, Mahamed Mahamed finished ninth, and the Brits placed third.

On her marathon debut, Eilish McColgan set a new record of 2:24:25, beating Steph Twell’s mark of 2:26:40, which she had set in Frankfurt in 2019.

Rose Harvey finished a place ahead of the Commonwealth 10, 000m champion in eighth place.

Another battle between Hassan and Assefa, the gold and silver medal winners in Paris last summer, was billed as a highly anticipated women’s race.

Early on, the pair held the lead, but by the 20-kilometer (12-mile) mark, Hassan was five seconds ahead, with Assefa and Jepkosgei maintaining a fast pace.

Assefa, the former world record holder, kicked for the line, and from being just 35 kilometers (just under 22 miles), she was 56 seconds ahead at 40 kilometers, holding on to the edge by the line.

“To win this year is very special because I placed second last year.” Assefa told BBC One, “I’m really, really happy.

“Toward the end of last year, I did experience some issues with the cold and my hamstring tightened up.” I prefer the weather this year.

I’m very pleased with the way things turned out.

After 30 kilometers (18.64 miles), the lead group for the men’s elite race was still made up of nine athletes. The field was hailed as the best ever in London.

No one could match Sawe, despite the presence of Kiplimo, Mutiso, four-time Olympian Tamirat Tola, and Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge, who he had just crossed the 31 km (26 miles) mark.

The Kenyan extended his lead before passing the halfway point just one minute and ten seconds before his closest rivals.

“I’m so happy,” I said. He told BBC One, “This is my fastest time for the London Marathon.”