Saints’ circling

Three relegation battles in a row. It is with good reason that “circling the drain” has become a popular phrase among St Johnstone supporters in recent years.

There is a broad narrative element to all this that remains inescapable.

Failing to modernise the recruitment operation when Tommy Wright first raised it as a priority nearly a decade ago, allowing him to grow weary, and losing a grip on financial prudence were leadership errors of planning and judgment.

But the three campaigns of Premiership toil also have stand-alone stories.

First it was the “hangover” – a comedown from the season of all seasons and the most impactful (not in a good way) deadline day the club has ever known.

Then it was the “reaction” – spending big wages on players close to or over 30 in a bid to steady the ship.

And this season it’s been “austerity” – clawing back around £1 million after the full scale of the purseloosening became apparent.

It didn’t take long for the bucket of cold reality to be poured over Steven Maclean.

When the likes of Matty Kennedy and Robbie Deas became available, Maclean was in no position to compete with Kilmarnock.

A second Adam Montgomery loan was now out of reach.

There were plenty of near-miss signings – Australian centre-back Jordan Courtney-perkins was one Saints thought they had.

David Martindale would maybe argue otherwise but the rookie manager’s budget was probably the smallest in the league.

WORST POSSIBLE START

A slow start in the transfer market and an extensive injury list meant that the teams Maclean was forced to select in pre-season and the League Cup group games leaned heavily on youth. There was no other option.

Only two players who started the season-ender against Motherwell were in the 11 for the embarrassing 4-0 home defeat to Stirling Albion.

Seldom, if ever, has a St Johnstone team looked less ready for the beginning of a top-flight league campaign.

Maclean eventually made 11 signings.

His goalkeeper ended up being the most important recruit of the season.

And his centre-forward ended up being an unmitigated disaster.

More than any other player, Maclean needed Luke Jephcott to hit the ground running. Instead, he didn’t score a single goal all season, for Saints then Newport County.

Maclean deserves to be remembered as the playing legend whose qualities as a nine-and-a-half still haven’t been replaced, a caretaker manager who kept Saints in the league and a permanent manager whose day job was harder than any of his predecessors in living memory.

We’ll never know if he could have been a success had the backdrop not been recruitment catch-up and budget-slashing.

That he lost his job after his players wilted in a 4-0 defeat to St Mirren and he questioned whether there had been a “chucked it” aspect to the second half collapse wasn’t a shock.

Saints were five points adrift of second bottom, winless and the opening of the next transfer window was over two months away.

CARETAKER CLELAND

Without the one Alex Cleland game – a 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock – Saints would be in the play-offs, maybe even worse.

The “unlucky manager” theory as far as Maclean was concerned was taken to a new level with Nicky Clark finally fit enough to play like the striker his old boss needed, scoring two goals before 10 minutes were on the clock.

Apart from the third-last match of the season at Livingston, this was the most impressive, attackminded start to a match Saints would make all year.

It convinced Craig Levein, in the Main Stand, that this was a team with survival potential.

He built on Cleland’s direction-changer and the new manager bounce was real.

Saints won three and drew two of their first seven under Levein.

And the last of those victories – against Hibs – was the most complete performance season ticket holders would see at Mcdiarmid.

There was midfield control and ambition, defensive solidity, a superb Graham Carey goal and a first home start for Fran Franczak that was full of youthful zest.

There was a pre-winter break drop-off on the road – Saints were OK at Ibrox, dreadful for a half at Rugby Park and looked weary at Livingston.