DANNY’S SET TO JOIN HIBS
Midfielder in pre contract move
Wright was hopeful of keeping Danny Swanson at McDiarmid Park St Johnstone midfielder Danny Swanson is understood to have agreed a precontract deal with Hibernian.
And yesterday Perth manager Tommy Wright, who was determined to keep hold of the 30-year-old, had little to say on the matter.
The Northern Irishman was hopeful Swanson would pen a new deal at McDiarmid Park, but he is set for Easter Road in the summer.
Speaking to the Perthshire Advertiser, Wright said: “Apparently it’s done. Hibs have contacted us.
“It’s one of those situations as a manager that we’ll move on from and I’m better keeping my thoughts to myself.
“That’s the only comment I really want to make.
“My focus is getting fourth place and getting a result at Aberdeen. Players come and go. It happens all the time.”
While Swanson appears to be heading out of the Perth door, Chris Millar is expected to sign a new one year deal.
News broke at the tail end of last week that the experienced midfielder had extended his stay at Saints.
Boss Wright confirmed terms have been agreed and said: “It’s disappointing when things get out before they are done but that’s the nature of the business.
“Everything is agreed in principle but it’s not been signed. Midge is an important member of our squad and team.”
Perth players, meanwhile, now have clarification that fourth place in the Scottish Premiership will secure a Europa League first qualifying
round spot. That was after Aberdeen defeated Hibernian 3-2 in the Scottish Cup semi-final on Saturday afternoon.
Wright said:“It’s good that we got clarification that fourth place gets you into Europe.
“We’ve got a clear picture now. We know what we’ve got to do – we’ve got to make sure we get more points than Hearts and Partick and get that fourth place, which would be tremendous.”
Saints netted 56 points last season and Wright reckons achieving that points tally again would be enough to secure Europe.
“If we get 56 that should be enough,” he said.“Hearts would have to get 11 points out of 15, which is a hard task.
“Certainly, if we got 56 and didn’t qualify we’d be very unlucky. Who knows, two wins might be enough.“
The first of the post-split fixtures take place this weekend with Saints making the trip to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen.
Providing a squad update, Wright said: “Macca is suspended for this weekend. Ando played in the 20s last week and young Gilchrist got 45 minutes, so he is on the way back.
“Kano will train in about two weeks. Hopefully we’ll have him available for three of the last games, certainly two of them.
“That’s around about the time we expected him back. Keith Watson is ready to train in three weeks but we won’t be rushing him back.”