Tommy’s drunken darts session in Norway set up the winning relationship with Saints chief that led to first Scottish Cup triumph CHAIRMAN AND I GOT ON OCHE FROM DAY ONE
Tommy Wright’s decision to end his seven-year stint at St Johnstone has sent shockwaves through Scottish football.
And it has dismayed Perth fans lamenting the loss of their most successful manager.
The 2014 Scottish Cup winner had assembled a youthful squad and still had two years left on his contract.
But MailSport can reveal the seeds of his exit decision were sown in January after the Northern Irishman went public with frustration at the lack of a planned recruitment policy for the transfer window.
Neither Wright nor Perth chief Steve Brown made any secret of a tempestuous relationship. But peace always broke out when the dust settled.
This time the dynamics were different. Brown made the lowkey appointment of one-time Kilmarnock chief executive Kirsten Robertson, initially as head of football operations.
Then after losing Matty Kennedy to Aberdeen in January, furious Wright claimed his authority in the transfer market had been undermined. The manager said: “I feel as though a lot of the football decisions are being taken away from me. I can only give recommendations.
“That’s my job. But in general my proposals in footbal l matters have been overlooked.
“If people take this as me lashing out then so be it. But the one thing I am is totally honest.
“You can’t kid people. I haven’t been given the authority to sign anyone, end of story.”
It’s understood Brown was livid with Wright’s comments but the chairman said: “I still get on with Tommy.
“It was seven or eight days before the window shut, which was a bit premature.
“He just gets frustrated. The manager wants more and more players in but is not all that concerned about getting players out. That’s just football at the end of the day.”
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