The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Dundee snub the right move for MacLean Saints frontman has no regrets as he prepares to face club he turned down
Steven MacLean’s decision to knock back Dundee turned out to be one of the best he ever made.
And the veteran St Johnstone striker admitted it ended up being a career “sliding doors” moment.
Hearts-bound MacLean, who will play at Dens Park for the last time as a Saints player this afternoon, has got six years’worth of success to look back on as a Perth player.
But when he was returning to Scotland after a few years down south, the Dark Blues were the first club to try to snap up the former Aberdeen and Rangers man.
“I’d been offered a deal at Dundee but it just didn’t feel right,” he recalled.
“Football’s like that. You get these sliding doors moments in your career.
“I came on trial here. Steve Lomas said he wanted to sign me but then he brought in Craig Beattie.
“He got in touch again, though, and said there was still a space for me and I basically signed a short-term contract for nothing. I told him that I would win a longer-term deal. I worked hard and obviously the rest is history.
“I dislocated my elbow at Dens in my second game. The guy put me in plaster and said I’d be out for 12 weeks and I was arguing with him and, right enough, I came back in three. It was after that I signed the new deal.
“I probably should have come back to Scotland earlier. I’d made a few mistakes and fallen out with a couple of managers. As you get older you become a better player and a better pro.”
Severing his ties with Saints won’t be easy for the 35-year-old when the end of the season arrives.
“I’ve had six great years here and it was always going to be hard to leave,” said MacLean.
“This opportunity at Hearts has come up and I’ve decided to move on. It was always going to be a difficult decision but it’s one that I’ve made.
“It’s a testament to how well things have gone in my time here that this is going to be the worst season that we’ve had and we can still finish seventh.
“It just shows how successful we’ve been in the previous five seasons.
“Obviously there was the cup final, some European runs, a third-place finish and a few semis.
“They are great memories.
“I’ve had so many good times here and it will be really hard to leave. It has been a decision made with a heavy heart.”
As the only fit centre forward at the club, MacLean will see plenty of action in the last five matches of the Premiership campaign.
“Nothing changes for me for the last few weeks of the season,” he said. “I’ll be giving everything I’ve got. Hopefully it will be good enough to get some wins and to finish seventh in the table.
“Of course there will be an edge to the (Dundee) game after what happened the last time. I’m not going to stand here and say any different. It’s what football is all about.
“We’re all in it together here. If there’s ever something ready to kick-off, we’re always there together as a team.
“It might be spikey but the biggest thing is that they lost 4-0 and they’re fighting for their lives and will be coming out to right a wrong.”
There will not be many survivors of the Saints cup final team come next season but the bond between them will be a long-term one.
“That team is such a close-knit group,” said MacLean.
“We’ll no doubt be getting back together for cup final anniversary dinners and things like that.
“When you get a group of guys who were so close and achieved so much together, there’s always going to be a bond.
“People go on about the friends you make in football but a lot of the people you play with you don’t stay in contact with.
“It was such a good dressing room. It was ruthless, mind you, but brilliant.”