Millar knows Wright will soon be a man in demand again
IF news of Tommy Wright pledging his immediate future to St Johnstone earlier this week was greeted with joy by those who have thrived under his tutelage, then it was also underpinned by a sense of reality.
The Northern Irishman — who will forever be synonymous with the club winning their first major trophy courtesy of their Scottish Cup success in 2014 — may have signed a deal that binds him to McDiarmid Park until 2019 but, privately, few expect that to run its course.
While Wright now has both the job security and the pay rise he craved, Saints chairman Steve Brown can rest assured that the compensation he will one day claw back has now been hiked up considerably.
Dundee United may have been the first team to publicly declare their admiration for the remarkable job Wright has done, but they certainly won’t be the last.
If, or rather when, the 52-year-old does move on, a period of mourning will inevitably follow in Perth.
But having seen the man from Ballyclare work wonders over two years with the tightest of budgets, nobody would begrudge him the chance to take his considerable skill set into a more cash- rich environment.
‘I definitely see him getting a bigger job at some point,’ said vicecaptain Chris Millar. ‘I think there will be a time he moves on if the success continues.
‘I’m not sure why he’s not been linked with more jobs in the past, as he’s done more than the previous managers.
‘ But I’m sure now, after the interest United have shown, there will be more clubs interested and taking notice of what we’re doing.
‘If we do well again this season then it’s only going to raise his profile further.
‘Tommy’s got all the experience. He worked on the tightest of budgets in Ireland and has come here to a similar situation and still done well.
‘I’m sure if the right opportunity comes along for Tommy in the f uture he’ll move on and the chairman won’t stand in his way.
‘It would be interesting to see what he could do with looser purse strings. It’s a four-year deal and I’m sure he’s delighted with that.’
Perhaps, at some point in the future, a move to Tannadice might feel right.
Without question, United have a bigger fanbase, a prouder history and greater potential than Saints.
Just now, however, the Tannadice club is in a state of flux and Millar always felt confident that staying put made more sense to his manager at this particular juncture.
‘Dundee United are a bigger club than St Johnstone, but with their situation just now, I don’t think it was the right move,’ he said.
‘We’re playing well just now and they are a bit short of confidence. It’s a transition for them. The ones they’ve brought in are still young and developing.
‘It just wasn’t the right move at the right time for him, so I was confident he would stay.
‘The interest moved the chairman to give him a new deal and everyone is delighted he’s staying as he’s been a big part of our success.’
There remains something curious about the fact it has taken so long for any club to sound Wright out.
His record is exemplary. Their Scottish Cup triumph aside, he has presided over three European campaigns and guided Saints to successive top-six finishes.
Yet for reasons best known to chairmen the length and breadth of the country, his CV has largely been ignored.
‘Maybe it is something to do with age,’ Millar added. ‘Derek McInnes was the fashionable young manager and these kind of guys maybe have more glamour about them than Tommy. But you can’t beat his experience, can you?’
You would have thought so. Certainly anyone who has spent time working under the former international goalkeeper is fulsome in their praise for his methodology.
He might not be in his first flush of youth but he is a very modern manager in every sense.
‘ It’s his organisation,’ Millar explained. ‘He always wants to know everything that’s going on.
‘If there’s something happening and he doesn’t know about it, he wants to know why he didn’t know about it. He wants to be in control of every situation.
‘If things aren’t done the way he wants, he’s not slow in letting you know.
‘He’s also not scared to change a winning team. Some managers will just keep the same team if they are winning. But we’ve come off the back of a great result, say against a Dundee United or an Aberdeen, and the following week he’ll drop someone you think has played well.
‘It’s not because they played badly, but because he sees it as the best option. A classic example was against Rangers — he moved Michael O’Halloran from the right wing to up front and dropped Graham Cummins, who had been scoring goals and playing brilliantly. It was a masterstroke.’
This season Saints seem to have shed their reputation as a team who grind out results. Disruption to the back four in the early part of the campaign meant attack was the best form of defence. Goals rained in at both ends.
But, with more familiar personnel now back in the saddle, Millar hopes that, starting tomorrow against Partick Thistle, a more balanced side will emerge.
‘The difference is we have been scoring lots of goals. It’s been a total turnaround because last year was the opposite — we never conceded many and maybe only scored one or two per game.
‘But now we’ve got our regular defenders back and the back four is looking settled once again.
‘Recent results have shown we’ve been working on the defensive side of things on the training ground.
‘ That’s three great victories against Dundee United, Aberdeen and Rangers and we’ve only lost one goal in each game.
‘We feel we’re an established topsix club and now we want to go on and win more trophies.’