Stevenson: Tommy has the Wright stuff
Alistair Stevenson was quick to point out that Tommy Wright’s achievements at St Johnstone are second to none.
The youth supremo has vast experience with the
Perth club and helped unearth players such as Danny Griffin, Stuart McCluskey and Andy Whiteford in his first spell.
He has worked alongside Wright across the past seven years, bringing players including current skipper Jason Kerr and midfield star
Ali McCann through the ranks.
“Tommy was great for me,” Stevenson said. “If I had anything I felt was a problem, a worry or something I wanted to change, I went in and spoke to him.
“He was always supportive, helpful and encouraging. If there was something not up to what he was expecting, he would also be very quick to let you know.
“We would always discuss things and come out with a positive end result.
“I respected him highly and always trusted his judgement.
“We’re both quite open in what we say.
“We say what we feel and then try to build on it.
“His achievements are second to no other manager.
“He has constantly managed to get success on the park and kept his core of experienced players for a long time.
“They obviously stayed because they had the highest of respect for him. He has been able to bring in the odd one or two to boost his already successful team.
“He has kept the club achieving at a high level, finishing in the top six, qualifying for Europe and winning the cup. It doesn’t get any better than that.
“It’s the sign of an experienced, top manager, having someone who makes players want to come to a club and stay there.”
St Johnstone’s youth academy, for now, is having to adapt to the coronavirus situation.
Teams throughout the age groups are unable to train together as football and wider sport joins forces to halt the spread of the pandemic.
But stars of the future are continuing to work on their skills from the safety of their own homes.
Stevenson said:“At the minute, the coaches are giving out some homework and tasks.
“There is video analysis from games and we’re letting players access those.
“Players have been working in their back gardens, filming it and sending it in. There is great evidence of the work being done.
“I’m going to speak to the club about collating some of the stuff and putting it out so the fans can see it.
“We want to get more information out to the fans so they can maybe start to put faces to names.
“And we’re always looking to get more coaches as well as players and that is something we’re going to be actively doing.
“We have a very good group of coaches, which is paramount.
“And we have good people recruiting and looking for players.”
Every football fan wants to watch homegrown talent rise through the ranks and proudly pull on the first-team jersey. Alistair Stevenson is no different.
But St Johnstone’s youth academy manager came to realise that, for many years, the club’s success with an experienced squad made it virtually impossible. Saints were a team with strong foundations and proud leaders including the likes of Dave Mackay, Frazer Wright, Steven Anderson, Chris Millar and Steven MacLean. The list goes on.
The ‘old guard’ served their manager Tommy
Wright with great distinction and played a pivotal role in continually defying the odds to achieve greatness at McDiarmid Park.
Top six finishes, qualification for European competition and that famous Scottish Cup day in May - these were the best of times for the Perth team.
“It was frustrating for me to watch a team that was very experienced,” Stevenson, an unsung hero, smiled.
“I knew deep down: ‘Why the heck would you want to change a team that was going for Europe and the cup, just to give a young player a game?’
“The fans wanted to win the cup, the fans wanted to be in Europe and the fans did also want to see a young player come into the team.