The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
No new faces for Saints, says boss
WRIGHT: New deals taking priority over signings during January
Tommy Wright expects January to be a quiet transfer window for St Johnstone.
The Perth boss has revealed that tying down current players on new deals is his priority, and that it is unlikely there will be a new signing.
“There’s nothing happening on the contracts at the minute,” he said.
“I am keen to get players tied down that we want to keep. There are others who have maybe been out of the team who will have to wait a little bit.
“But I am keen to get things sorted. I will probably have to get players out to get anyone in during the transfer window. But I don’t want to lose anybody in January so the reality is that while we are looking around I don’t envisage anyone coming in during the window.”
Saints are off on their travels tomorrow to face third-placed Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Daunting away games have been St Johnstone’s forte this season.
And Perth boss Tommy Wright hopes that trend will continue at Aberdeen tomorrow afternoon.
“We tend to have been better on the road this year and difficult to beat against the bigger clubs,” he said.
“Hopefully that will be the case again at Pittodrie. We go up there with no fear but the utmost respect for the opposition. They are a quality squad.
“We lost the League Cup tie in the final seconds but we had come close. Their keeper had a wonder save and a tight offside decision went against us. I’m sure if we had got the first goal we’d have won the game.
“But the winner from Adam Rooney was a really good goal from their point of view.
“Pittodrie is one of the toughest venues to visit in the league but we have been good on the road, with just that one defeat to Inverness in the final moments. We have won at Ross County and Motherwell, and come away from Hearts and Rangers with points. None of those are easy places to go.
“Celtic are way out in front with their financial clout and you have Rangers then Hearts and Aberdeen in terms of budgets, then you have the rest of us. And we are probably near the bottom of that pile.
“But as we have proved in the past it’s not about resources but how you how you use them. And I think that’s what makes this club’s achievements over the last few years even greater.”
Wright has already been up to Aberdeen once this week – to watch the Dons post a convincing win against Kilmarnock.
He said: “Kilmarnock actually started the game well and looked a bit of a threat. But the first goal settled Aberdeen and they went on to win comfortably.
“We believe we can go up there and get a positive result. Games between the teams have tended to be close and because of cup draws we have played each other a minimum of four times a season.
“They know that they won’t play poorly and beat us, they have got to play well. And it’s the same for us. We have a decent record against Aberdeen but stats mean nothing. This is a new game.”
Saints are five points below fourth and there is the same gap below them to sixth. Looking up the way is the McDiarmid Park mindset, though.
“Fifth isn’t bad but the league is so tight we want to keep the pressure on the teams above us,” Wright said.
“By doing that you are keeping yourself away from teams below you. We don’t say we are going to get top six again. We will just keep doing what we are doing.
“The squad has changed but we have been over the course so many times as a management team we fully understand what it takes.
“We accept there will be poor games, poor weeks and even poor months along the way. You have to make sure you don’t get too down about it. By the same token, when things are going well you don’t get carried away because you can never relax over the course of a season.”
On the injury front, Wright reported: “We are in good shape.
“Paul Paton will miss this one and maybe the next game with his ankle knock. We’ll see how it goes but I can’t see him being out for more than two or three weeks.”
“But Wotherspoon and Millar are fit and Watson played another 90 minutes in the under-20s this week. We will consider whether he comes into the squad this weekend but remember young Liam Gordon has done well when called upon so it’s a reminder that players coming back aren’t automatic picks for the squad.”