The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Kerr keen to extend St Johnstone contract
St Johnstone have been given the perfect cup final week boost, with Jason Kerr declaring he wants to extend his contract at Mcdiarmid
Park.
The Perth captain has a year left on his current deal and has been linked with Saturday’s Hampden Park opponents, Hibs.
There are sure to be other suitors in the Premiership and down south but the former Scotland under-21 international has got his heart set on staying in Perth for longer than 12 months – and leading Callum Davidson’s side into a European campaign.
Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Livingston ensured, at worst, Saints will enter the 2021-22 Europa Conference League qualifiers at the second round.
But if they beat Hibs and complete a Betfred Cup and Scottish Cup double, they will be guaranteed group stage football through to Christmas.
“It’s good that a lot of players are committing themselves to the club,” said Kerr.
“There is so much excitement about what we’re doing just now and what we can go on to do in the future.
“I’ve got another year left on my contract but I’m definitely open to talks. My future is with St Johnstone and I really want to play European football with the club.”
Kerr believes he won’t be the only one whose eyes are lighting up at the prospect of a Saints Euro adventure, the sixth for the club in less than a decade.
“Every player wants to play European football,” he said. “It’s huge for players at the club and players we’re looking to sign.
“If that’s not an incentive for a player, I don’t know what is.
“Group stage football would be mindblowing. We’re obviously going to focus on Saturday first but I wouldn’t put anything past this team. If we did get that, I‘m sure it’s a challenge we’d meet.”
Meanwhile, Davidson would like to keep goalkeeper Bobby Zlamal at the club for another week.
He will hope to have both Zander Clark and Elliott Parish available for the final but extending the Hearts man’s emergency loan would give the Saints boss extra insurance.
“Hopefully we will have him next week,” said Davidson.
“And see how Elliott and Zander are when they come back.
“We are looking at that just now. It might save me sleepless nights if I have him here as well so I’ll speak to the chairman and see if we can do something about it.”
Callum Booth was brought off late in the Livingston game with a tight groin.
“It’s been a tough six days for the lads,” Davidson added. “We knew we might have some niggles.”
You’ll never persuade everybody that St Johnstone’s 2020-21 achievements, as unprecedented and incredible as they are, should stand tallest in Scottish club football when this season is reviewed.
Finishing top of the pile as Rangers have done is the beginning and end of the debate regardless of what has happened below in the eyes of many.
You pays your money and you takes your choice.
What we can say without fear of contradiction however is that Saints will be the only side in the country to complete the full domestic campaign from first game to last.
That’s 38 league fixtures, eight Betfred Cup and five Scottish Cup. Saturday’s second cup final will be match number 51.
Given everything that has gone before, and the off-field crisis that has consumed Saints over the last fortnight, we’ll forgive Callum Davidson’s men for raising their bat for the half-century of games on Saturday after pinching a scruffy single rather than clearing the members’ pavilion with a Bothamesque six. This team earned the right to manage a dull 0-0 on the last day of the Premiership in any way they saw fit.
The hard work to get into fifth place had been done. And it shouldn’t be forgotten that much of it was easy on the eye.
Just because it was dull fare at the weekend, though, don’t mistake this performance as a runningon-fumes, falling-over-theline type one.
In a match that required three players to be brought back into the team to top up their fitness levels ahead of next weekend and others to be taken out to prevent over-exertion, turning this into a game of few chances at either end was the pragmatic and sensible option.
Davidson is at a point where he can rely on his tactics, system and his squad’s familiarity with both to become the key factors when they are facing a side with neither the guile nor belief to negate and trump them.
Saints didn’t play for a draw but it takes a very assured team to get one when it is needed in as stress-free a manner as this.
Denying their opponents width proved to the perfect ploy.
There was really only one proper chance for Livingston in the whole game and one proper save from stand-in keeper Bobby Zlamal – when he made a block with his legs from a Jaze Kabia shot in the second half. And even then it was an opportunity presented to the visitors when James Brown gave Shaun Rooney the sort of pass no defender wants in his own penalty box.
Livingston had two shots, two open-play crosses and one corner in a game they had over 55% of the possession and needed to win to have a chance of playing European football next season.
If that isn’t the definition of control by Saints, I don’t know what is.
“It definitely wasn’t the prettiest of games but we knew what we had to do,” said Jason Kerr. “Get a point to qualify for Europe. That’s what we’ve done.
“It was never going to be a great match. All that mattered was the result and I’m just buzzing that we got it.
“It’s a magnificent achievement for this team, especially when you consider we were bottom of the league after about 10 games.
“To end up in fifth and be in Europe shows how good we are as a group of players.
“Now that we’ve got this job done it does take a bit of pressure off us next Saturday. All our focus is on the final now.
“We’ve already put one trophy in the cabinet. We know how to do it and we’re hungry for another one.”
Stevie May, Murray Davidson and Liam Craig all returned after missing the last two matches, with others hopefully doing the same for the season finale at Hampden Park.
Kerr endured a coronavirus lay-off in the winter and had a suspension to serve just before it, keeping him out for a month in total.
Self-isolation sounds like a hammer blow for an individual, and a team if there are a few who are going through it at the same time, but the Perth skipper’s own experience tells him the Saints team won’t be too adversely affected against Hibs.
“I felt fine in my first game back,” he said.
“Obviously you can’t do as much fitness work as you would want when you’re in the house but we’re professional footballers. Ten days isn’t too bad. As long as you get a couple of training sessions before a game, you’re good to go.
“I think that was our 50th game so we’ve played a lot of football. It’s not as if we need to build our fitness up.”
It should come as no surprise that Saints fancy their chances of a cup double. But it isn’t the fact they’ll be coming up against a side they’ve beaten three times on the bounce that is the primary reason for their confidence.
“We won’t be putting too much on record against Hibs,” said Kerr. “We’ve done well against them but we know they’ve got a good squad.
“We’ll focus on ourselves and if we play to our potential we can beat anyone.
“We’ve done well in big games at Hampden so far and that will definitely help us. We know we can put good performances in there.”