Michael’s pace and quality will lift us
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright is delighted to add winger Michael O’Halloran to his squad ahead of the new Premiership season.
The attacker, who left the club 18 months ago to join Rangers for £500k, is rejoining the Perth club on a six month loan deal – and Wright can’t wait to reap the benefits of having him back.
The boss said:“Michael will bring pace and he’ll bring quality. He’s coming into an environment he knows well, so it’ll take him no time to settle back in and I think he’s going to be a great signing for us.”
Having tried to re-sign the former Bolton Wanderers winger before, Wright is relieved to finally have golden boy O’Halloran back at the club.
The manager said:“He’s somebody who I tried to get back in January – and I’ve been trying since the end of the season. I sat down with the chairman and told him that Michael and Stefan Scougall were my number one targets.
“They were the people I wanted to get in and we persevered but didn’t think it was going to happen in the end. We had an opportunity this week though to get it through.”
O’Halloran played 45 minutes of Saturday’s clash with East Fife – and Wright was pleased with his side’s performance.
He said:“It was a good workout, particularly because we have Kilmarnock up first on an artificial surface, and I think that the surface at Bayview is way better than some of the ones in the Scottish Premiership. It allowed us to
pass the ball really well, which for most of the game we did.”
The Fair City side won 2-0, adding another win and clean sheet to their excellent run of pre-season results.
Wright said:“There was maybe a little bit of overcomplicating it and overthinking passes.
“But with a clean sheet, Stefan getting his first goal and Wotherspoon chipping in, I’m pleased with the overall performance.
“There was a little knock with Blair Alston but that’s the only concern.“
Wright used the opportunity to rotate his squad.
He said:“We’ve worked really hard this week, so I was keen to give a lot of players more time, particularly making switches at half-time. It was a little disjointed in the second half but I think overall we stuck to the task.
“I’m pleased with how we did with and without the ball.”
St Johnstone kick off the SPFL season away to Kilmarnock on Saturday, and begin their League Cup campaign the following week by hosting Partick Thistle in the round of 16.