ROVERS: Magi-Cal! He's a natural at golf, squash - and yes, football

CALLUM Davidson's dream factory should never be short of raw materials, writes NEIL BRAMWELL.

Such as striding down the 18th at Royal Birkdale with a three shot lead, the packed galleries hailing the new Open champion.

Or trouncing Jansher Khan in the final of the World Squash Championships.

Or designing the long-awaited tunnel linking Ireland and Scotland under the Irish Sea.

Or scoring on his Premiership debut as Blackburn Rovers leapfrog Manchester United at the top of the table.

The latter, of course, is now the most likely to come true after completing a £1.75million move from St Johnstone to Ewood Park this week.

But none were ever beyond the realms of possibility.

For this guy is bursting at the seams with talent.

Davidson can even out-twang Kenny Dalglish.

He is annoyingly good at just about everything and yet as unassuming as the 24-handicapper, the squash tomato, the building site brickie or the Perth and District Sunday League clogger.

But he has already managed to cram more than his fair share of achievement into 21 years.

Davidson plays golf off a handicap of plus two and represented Scottish Boys against England and Wales.

To mark his debut, Callum took a seven iron on the par three sixth, caught it a little fat, and ball sailed into the cup for a hole-in-one. That natural ability almost convinced Callum to pursue a golfing scholarship in the United States.

He played squash at representative level and the wise man would not challenge him to a game of badminton or tennis.

Davidson also spent two years at Edinburgh University studying civil engineering.

And - don't forget - he can play a bit of footy.

The time at university was a crossroads in his career.

Paul Sturrock, the St Johnstone manager, was becoming increasingly frustrated at Davidson's attempts to arrange his studies in parallel with soccer commitments.

Davidson was the only part-time player on the McDiarmid Park staff.

And the dual demands became so great that Davidson actually quit the game for three months to concentrate on his studies.

"The manager felt I could have given a bit more but I felt I was giving as much as I could.

"I wasn't able to get a place in the first team because I was not always there.

"But I wasn't enjoying the civil engineering towards the end of the second year although it isn't something I have completely forgotten about.

"And I missed the football that much that I thought I might as well give it a go," explained Davidson.

Saints coach John Blackley eventually helped persuade Davidson to return to full-time football. That decision was made in the nick of time as Sturrock had, at one stage, been on the verge of selling his player to Forfar for "around £6,000".

Considering that the Perth side's previous record outgoing transfer fee was £750,000 for Billy Dodds, it would be safe to assume that both player and manager are reasonably satisfied that the Forfar deal did not come off. And having been fitted with career blinkers, Davidson went from strength to strength.

The left back cemented his place in the first team as St Johnstone gradually improved under Sturrock's dynamic leadership.

Davidson was selected for two trips with the under-21s to Sweden and Belarus and the grabbing hands of Premiership giants started to eagerly snap up the scouting slots at St Johnstone games.

Some Scottish soccer pundits would even have you believe that there is an outside chance of a surprise call-up for Craig Brown's full World Cup squad.

"I started to read things in the papers but I did not really believe it.

"Then I got a call from the managing director Stuart Duff last Saturday night telling me that Blackburn were keen.

"I was a little bit stunned.

"It then all happened so quickly that I didn't really have time to think about it.

"I liked the manager and the way Blackburn play.

"Their style is very similar to St Johnstone, playing 4-4-2 with two attacking wingers and they squeeze the game from the back," said Davidson.

He also recognised other similarities in the management styles of Sturrock and Roy Hodgson that would help smooth an otherwise traumatic upheaval. Sturrock, for instance, is currently the only Scottish manager who has his players on a strict nine-to-five training regime.

Blackburn's perceived status as a small town club was another attraction for a player who still lives at home in a small village near Perth.

Moving to a London club would have been a bit too daunting. Even so, upping sticks to move to Blackburn is a considerable wrench.

He is the last to leave the nest of PE teacher mother, Margaret, and his dad, Jack, is away at sea for months at a time in his post in the Merchant Navy while brother Andrew lives in Aberdeen.

His girlfriend, Lorna Harris, has two more years to complete a teacher training course at Glasgow University.

And the biggest regret of a hectic week is that Callum has been unable to chew the move over with his buddies back home.

There is the strong impression, though, that tonight's 21st birthday party of Saints team-mate Philip Scott's girlfriend might provide the first real chance to celebrate his stunning six-and-a-half year deal.

Davidson is, however, not the type to let the money or the acclaim distort an endearing innocence and modesty.

Today's first job, on returning home, was to meet with a financial advisor to discuss how best to invest this week's windfall. He also had to think long and hard about whether to employ an agent for the first time when talking terms with Rovers, eventually opting for the services of lawyer Blair Morgan.

"I was quite scared of talking about the money and I was panicking on Sunday night as I did not know what to do," he confessed.

That said, today's second job, was to look for a new motor.

"I was going to buy a new car anyway. It might be slightly better now," he grinned.

And, if his track record is anything to go buy, Callum Davidson will probably go straight out and clinch the RAC Rally in it!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.