'Love it' - Leeds United favourites Stuart Dallas and Luke Ayling react as former Whites man lands new club
Ex-Leeds United man has found a new home
Former Leeds United players Stuart Dallas and Luke Ayling have sent messages of support for Barry Douglas following his move to St Johnstone. The left-back has been snapped up by the Scottish Premiership side on a free transfer.
The 35-year-old has posted on Instagram after his switch to the Saints. He wrote “The next chapter now begins. Excited and grateful for the opportunity to continue playing this beautiful game. Time to get to work.”
Ex-Leeds winger Dallas replied “Congratulations Bash and all the best”, meanwhile Ayling, who is now at Middlesbrough, put “Love it Basher”. The defender has joined St Johnstone on a deal until the summer of 2025. In his first interview following his move to McDiarmid Park, Douglas said: “It is an exciting time. I am looking forward to the opportunity to come in and try to help the guys develop. There is a project here. It is a bit of a transition period with the new manager (Simo Valakari) coming in.
“I had a look and it is quite a young squad, so I can definitely bring my quality and experience to help everyone develop both on and off the park. The hunger is still there, the drive is still there and that is why I am so excited to be here playing my football.”
He added: “It was a good and convincing win. There is definitely a lot of quality in the squad and I think when we start to work with the new manager and his philosophy, the only way is up really. We should have momentum now. The squad will have a lot of belief and positivity.”
Leeds United days
Leeds signed Douglas back in 2018 from Wolves. Prior to switching to Elland Road, he spent a year in the Midlands and scored five goals in 42 games in all competitions.
He went on to play 44 matches for the Whites under the guidance of Marcelo Bielsa and was part of their squad who were promoted to the Premier League in 2020. However, he fell down the pecking order in the top flight and saw his game time dry up so was loaned out to Blackburn Rovers back in the Championship in October 2020.
Douglas was born in Glasgow and started his career with spells as a youngster at Livingston and Queen’s Park. He then had three years at Dundee United before moving over to Poland when Lech Poznan came calling in 2013.
The once-capped Scotland international won the Ekstraklasa twice, as well as the Polish Super Cup, before Konyaspor took him over to Turkey. He later got his hands on the Turkish Cup to add to his trophy cabinet.
Following on from his stints at Wolves, Leeds and Blackburn, he has been back at Lech Poznan for the last three campaigns. However, he cut ties with them earlier this summer and subsequently became a free agent.
He has now gone full circle and returned to Scotland. It is a new era for St Johnstone under new boss Simo Valakari and he was picked as their replacement for Craig Levein recently.