Tommy quit willing his phone to ring and got mojo back
It’s up there with Scotland’s other unexplained mysteries – Nessie, the Falkirk UFO triangle and refs pocketing 850 quid a game.
How the heck is Tommy Wright still St Johnstone manager?
Even diehard Saints must be scratching their heads, wondering how they kept hold of their greatest ever manager for so long.
None more so than Wright himself.
The big Northern Irishman could be forgiven for thinking chairman Steve Brown has cut the phone line to his McDiarmid office and blocked all numbers from England on his club mobile.
It seemed like Wright spent a couple of seasons staring at the thing, waiting for it to ring,
Then when it did f inal ly vibrate, it wasn’t an English C h amp i o n s h i p chairman on the line.
Instead, it was ‘Have you been in an accident in the last five years’. No. But I did win the bloomin’ Scottish Cup – and that was no accident.
Wright’s problem has been with timing. English club chairmen have stopped looking north for fresh meat.
Wright penning a new contract was a pleasant pre- Christmas bonus for Saints fans and the good news for Perthshire punters is their gaffer looks to have given up eyeballing the blower. Tommy’s got his mojo back. There was a period last term when he appeared a tad scunnered.
He had the air of a man who had grown weary of pushing the big boulder up a hill.
All those top-six finishes, cup runs, monster results, all while watching his budget getting stretched like a fat lad at a yoga class.
It didn’t help when Saints kept posting profits every season. Not massive amounts but things there are ticking over in the right direction.
Hearing the club had £2m in the bank reserves must be torture for a manager who has to check down the back of the couch every time he has to replace a key player.
The purse strings were relaxed a bit this year and it was just as well. Brown knows he has to keep his gaffer sweet.
The chairman is aware how important Wright is to his club – he finished eighth last season and was raging about it. That says it all about his ambition. Saints have no real right to be finishing any higher but Wright viewed it as a failure and tooled up to sort it out this season.
Wright signing the new deal might have got him a few more quid and helped with the stability of the side.
But it was also a mega message.
Wri g ht is n’ t standing at the side of the A9 with his thumb out. He means business again.
The Premiership has never been tougher. Celtic are still Celtic, Rangers are on the rise, the big city clubs are in the black and packing out grounds, while Steve Clarke at Kilmarnock has got hold of some of Tommy’s magic dust.
There’s plenty of shuffling right now but the top six looks harder than ever to crack.
Don’t bet against Wright getting out the hammer again though – or on the Northern Irishman being around at the end of his new deal in 2021.
He might not be waiting for a call any more but his phone will ring at some point.
After all, seemingly on his way out of Ibrox in the summer, he gritted his teeth and stuck at it.
Now, he’s one of Steven Gerrard’s trusted lieutenants in the Ibrox dressing room.
But after impressing at left-back this season, even the most staunch Bluenose admits he owes a debt of gratitude to a former CELTIC boss.
It was Tony Mowbray who first threw him into defence at Middlesbrough, where he came up against some of the Championship’s most talented wingers, including Tom Ince and Wilfried Zaha.
It’s not Halliday’s favoured position – he’d much rather be grafting in Gerrard’s engine room than filling in at full-back.
But, as much as he didn’t appreciate it at the time, he’s now thankful to Mowbray for trying him out there at the Riverside eight years ago.
Even if it was a baptism of fire for the Scots teenager at the time.
Halliday said: “Mowbray put me in against Blackpool and Ince was the form player in the league but I played really well and we got the win.
“He thought I could have a run at left-back but we played Crystal Palace and I had a torrid time. Zaha was very good and it was a learning experience for me.
“I was still young and up against two top players. But it’s stood me in good stead for playing in that position now.
“Tony gave me the opportunity and I made 15 or 16 starts in that position while George Friend was injured.
“I haven’t played there a lot since but I’m getting a few opportunities now.
“I’m just happy when I get a jersey. Whether it’s at leftback, midfield, anywhere – I just want to do a job for the team. I don’t see it as my No.1 position but I can play there.
“Myself, Jon Flanagan and Borna Barisic are all chomping at the bit to take that place.
“Those boys have strong claims to hold the jersey down but I’ll try to state my case as well.
“In the summer, I couldn’t see my immediate future at Rangers so if someone had of fered me 19 appearances at this stage of the season, I’d have taken it.
“Ultimately, it’s not what I want because I want to be playing every week but I’ll take it. It’s up to me to stake a claim to start every game.”
Gerrard’s side face another huge week with a trip to Dens Park today in the Premiership then a winnertakes-all Europa League clash with Rapid Vienna on Thursday night.
They can’t afford any more of the ill- discipline that has blighted their season so far.
Halliday plays on the edge at times – like Alfredo Morelos who was sent off against Aberdeen last week. The 27- year - old doesn’t want the Colombian striker to lose his fiery side but says they have to show passion, not petulance.
Halliday said: “It’s a fine balance. You want boys to be competitive but you also want them to keep their control and composure within that.
“The amount of red cards we’ve had this season is unacceptable.
“Some of them have been harsh but some have been justified. It’s definitely something we need to address.
“The gaffer tried to address it but our response was to let it get out of control again.
“It could cost us points and medals so it’s certainly something we’re not happy about.
“As a team-mate, I don’t want Alfredo to lose that edge.
“I’ve had it before myself and Wayne Rooney is the perfect example of it when he was a young kid.
“He had that fire in his belly and that’s what got him to the top.
“So I’d never try to drill it out of players but it’s important to keep it in check at times. “Alfredo has been magnificent for us this season – he’s come on leaps and bounds. “He was impressive last season but he’s improved again and we don’t want him to lose that desire.”
After their midweek defeat to the Dons at Ibrox, Gerrard needs to see a response from his team on Tayside and in Vienna.
Halliday’s confident that they’ll rediscover their best form – and refused to blame their hectic schedule for dropping points.
He said: “We’re desperate to bounce back this week.
“When we lost to Aberdeen in the Betfred Cup semi-final, it was the first bit of adversity the squad had to face.
“We had to show a bit of character to come back and we went on a winning streak.
“That gives me confidence that we can do the same this month after the disappointment of Wednesday night.
“We can’t use the number of games we’re playing as an excuse.
“One of our main goals this season was to get to the Europa League group stage. That’s why the manager brought in the number of players he did.
“We showed inconsistency last season as well – when we didn’t have the extra games.
“I’m happy we’ve got this far in Europa because it’s what we wanted to achieve as a squad. In doing so, we’ve actually been more consistent than a year ago so maybe those extra games have helped us.”