Saints legend Tommy Wright back in the game

Frazer Wright is very confident Kilmarnock have got the Wright man for the job. The former St Johnstone defender clocked up more than 130 games for the Perth side, including their 2014 Scottish Cup win.

And he spent six years at Kilmarnock before making the switch to Perth.

Wright, 41, is convinced his namesake Tommy has the credentials to halt the Rugby Park side’s freefall and extend their 28-year stay in the top flight.

After penning a deal through to 2023, his former Perth boss will take charge of Killie in tomorrow’s crunch home clash with Motherwell.

“There’s no doubt Kilmarnock have made the right call. Tommy’s record at St Johnstone speaks for itself,” he said.

“Tommy will go in there, get them organised and hard to beat. It’s a tough job because they are on a poor run of form and confidence is low.

“He won’t be sugarcoating things but he’ll want to bring the dressing room together and get them all pushing in the same direction. They can expect to be told the truth.

“Tommy knows how to handle players individually but he tells you it straight.

“There are some players who can’t handle that. But right now Tommy has to pull everyone together to get themselves out of this.

“They are only four points ahead of Hamilton at the bottom so they are in a relegation battle. But there are good, experienced players in that dressing room and they are going to be needed.

“It’s all about results right now and the quicker Tommy gets that first win the better. The pressure will ease and they can look at going on a run. It is all about keeping Kilmarnock in the Premiership.

“Last season Saints were at the bottom but they ended up with another top six finish.

After being plucked from Stranraer, Wright went through an agonising campaign at Rugby Park when Killie’s top flight status went down to the wire. So he knows what the Killie players are going through.

“Kilmarnock gave me my chance to play in the top division,” he recalled.

“We flirted with relegation one year I was there. It went down to the last game of the season against Falkirk.

“We pulled through. We had to make sure we didn’t lose and it was the most stressful 0-0 of my entire football career. For clubs like Kilmarnock and St Johnstone relegation would be disastrous.

“If they were to drop down into the Championship there would be redundancies as they were forced to cut their cloth.

“So there is that added pressure to keep the club up. It’s not just your own job you are worried about.

“You have to be mentally strong.”

Wright believes Killie have secured a manager who can tackle a longerterm rebuilding job at Rugby Park.

“Tommy’s immediate priority is keeping them up and he will look to the future further down the line,” he said.

“It annoyed me when I saw Tommy being linked with jobs and some people said he didn’t give youth a chance at Perth.

“But he got the age of the squad down when our cup winning team split up.

“I still have a soft spot for the club and I only live half an hour from Kilmarnock.

“You saw how the fans turned out in force at Rugby Park in Steve Clarke’s time and hopefully Tommy can get back to those days.”

LEGEND RETURNS: Former St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright is unveiled as the new Kilmarnock boss.