St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright expects a tough campaign
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright says his side are ready for an even tougher Ladbrokes Premiership challenge this season.
Last updated 4th Aug 2017
Saints have another serious rival for a top-six place in the form of Hibernian, who have followed Hearts and Rangers in winning promotion and taken Danny Swanson, arguably Wright's best player last season, to Easter Road.
But the Perth side have now accumulated six consecutive top-half finishes and Wright has bolstered his squad by bringing in former Sheffield United midfielder Stefan Scougall and re-signing Michael O'Halloran on loan from Rangers.
On the fresh challenge, Wright said: We have prepared for it. We have made good additions to the squad and we still hope to add to that.
Like every other club, we believe we have done good business in the summer. Time will tell but I think the introduction of Scougall and Michael O'Halloran will give us something up the top end of the pitch.
Scott Tanser is someone who will help us defensively and this season I'm excited by looking at some of the young players to be pushing to get into the first team.''
Saints begin their campaign at Kilmarnock on Saturday and Wright wants to start making progress to his initial target.
Every manager wants to get that three points on the board and you want to get points on the board as early as possible,'' he said.
Our target is to get to 10 points as quickly as possible, and that's what we try to do every season. Then get to 20 points and work from there.
So we are looking for a good start.'