Saints dismiss Scobbie remarks

St Johnstone chairman Steve Brown has rejected former defender Tam Scobbie’s claim he was forced out of McDiarmid Park.

Scobbie claimed he was left feeling under-valued when Saints offered him a 35% wage cut to remain with the club this season.

The 29-year-old Scottish Cup winner – who has now signed for Dundee United – described the one-year contract offer as a slap in the face. But Brown insisted the package put in place for Scobbie was fair given the lack of certainty about his place in Tommy Wright’s team.

He said: “On a day when the thoughts of all Saints supporters were on the excitement of the European draw there was the distraction of a story from a player who claims to have Saints’ best interests at heart.

“As much as I accept he was part of a successful squad, he only started 18 out of 46 competitive games last season and over the course of his five seasons with us he was in the starting line-up in less than half of the games.

“With this in mind we tried to structure a deal which, although it did reduce his basic wage, offered a higher reward for him starting matches so that if he played he wouldn’t be worse off.

“We were only offering him a one-year deal after consulting and agreeing with Tommy.

“It’s not new though. Anyone who knows this club and how it is run knows that we will always endeavour to balance the expenditure with the limited income we have.

“So to sign a quality player such as Stefan Scougall, who we have pushed the boat out for, it stands to reason we have to try to balance the financial scales.”

Tam Scobbie