Graham Carey reaches 100 appearances

Graham Carey made his 100th appearance for the club during our Scottish Cup win against Motherwell on Saturday afternoon.

The midfielder produced an impressive performance to mark the occasion and was delighted to help book our place in the next round.

To mark the significant milestone, we took a trip down memory lane Graham, which you can read below.

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Graham Carey remembers his early days on the Gaelic football field and scurrying around with a hurling stick in hand.

Growing up as a kid in Blanchardstown – a suburb of Dublin – there was not necessarily always a plan to carve out a career in the world of sport, let alone football. 

So a smile started to appear on the face of the Irish midfielder as he reflects on more than 15 years as a professional and as he reaches 100 appearances for St Johnstone FC.

“I actually didn’t play football until I was seven or eight,” Graham recalls with a laugh. “I played GAA (Gaelic football) and a bit of hurling in school.

“But I moved school and they were big into football. I started playing a bit more with a local team called Mountview, who had players in the past move across to England.

“From there I went to Shelbourne at under-12s and they had a connection with a Manchester United academy in Dublin. I ended up getting into the academy and would go over to Carrington every now and again to train and play against their young players.

“So I started travelling to England from the age of 12 and, from then, I was focused on the idea of becoming a footballer. My parents, uncle and grandad would travel with me a lot. From a young age I was travelling four or five times a week.

“My family would never complain. Whatever time I had a game, they would make sure I was there. It was a big sacrifice giving up their time all over the country. If it wasn’t for them, the road would have been a lot tougher.”

Graham would later make the move across the pond to join Celtic and, during that time, would benefit from loan switches to Bohemians, St Mirren and Huddersfield.

“I made the jump to sign for Celtic full-time and that was a big shock to the system moving over at the age of 16,” he reminisced.

“I was probably homesick for the first month or so but, after that, I loved it. It was obviously a dream to be playing football full-time and was always something I planned on doing.

“The only regret I have is that, when I was at Celtic, I feel I didn’t realise my full potential. Until I got out of the safety net of being at Celtic, I don’t think I grew up at all.

“From 18 to 21, I probably didn’t realise how close I was to having a chance at Celtic. I probably didn’t grab it with both hands the way I should have.”

He would later sign for St Mirren and then Ross County, before enjoying a special time in his career at Plymouth Argyle.

“When I went to Plymouth, I think that is when I changed as a player – and grew up,” he said. “The club was struggling at the time but I had the freedom to play as a number 10 and be creative.

“There was expectation and pressure to get out of League Two. We built a really good side and eventually did get promoted. It was such an enjoyable spell in my career. I loved it there and so did my family.”

Life experiences on and off the pitch were bolstered with a move to Bulgarian top tier outfit CSKA Sofia in 2019. He would spend three years there and famously scored against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in the UEFA Conference League.

He explained: “When it came about, it was probably the last chance I had to play abroad. I had always wanted to do it.

“To be fair, it was everything I expected it to be and probably more. We were playing in Europe every year, fighting for titles and managed to win the Bulgarian cup.

“The experience of a different culture and a different lifestyle was great. We had about eight or nine coaches and they were all from different backgrounds. I would pick up a lot of different things from them and consumed a lot of knowledge.

“I would advise anyone, if you get the chance to play abroad, to take the opportunity with both hands because it is something you won’t regret.”

Graham joined us at Saints in 2022 and, since then, has shown off his ability, craft and footballing experience to reach his century of appearances.

“It’s always a nice achievement to play so many games for one club,” he said. “I’ve managed to do it with a few clubs now.

“Since I’ve come back to Scotland, St Johnstone have been great with me. The fans have been brilliant with me - and with my family. We greatly appreciate that.”

It is back to action this weekend with Motherwell again providing the opposition at McDiarmid Park – this time in the league.

On league form, Graham said: “It has been frustrating because, as we’ve been saying, we have been controlling a lot of games but haven’t been clinical. Then we get punished for sloppy defending.

“But that is not just the defenders, we need to defend better as a unit. We feel the football is better and I think the fans have seen that too.”