Tommy Wright keen to tie down more Saints in coming days

Steven MacLean, Richard Foster, David Wotherspoon and Joe Shaughnessy have all extended their contracts within the past 10 days.

Published 10th Feb 2017

Tommy Wright is hopeful St Johnstone will resume their run of contract renewals in the coming days.

Steven MacLean, Richard Foster, David Wotherspoon and Joe Shaughnessy have all extended their contracts within the past 10 days.

Saints have also been trying to tie up the likes of Brian Easton and Danny Swanson, while Liam Craig is close to triggering a new deal.

Wright said: "I'm pleased to get a few more over the line. We are still talking to others and hopefully in the next few days we will get a few more tied up.

"A club our size, it's important when you get players that do well for you, you try and hold on to them.

"It can be difficult at times for smaller clubs to attract quality players so when you have got good quality the emphasis is to keep them as long as possible, and that's what we have tried to do here.

"Continuity is a great thing and it really means, in each summer, you are only looking for maybe two players, three at the most.''

Saints face another side on Saturday who are benefiting from stability as the Premiership's longest-serving managers lock horns, with Alan Archibald's Partick Thistle visiting McDiarmid Park on William Hill Scottish Cup duty.

"They have always had the nucleus of a good side and were able to recruit well in the summer and added a couple in the window as well,'' Wright said.

"They are adding pieces to what they have already got and I think that is the best way to do it.

"It's different from the league in terms of you only get the one chance at it. So there is that extra focus and edge in training this week.

"We go into it on a good vein of form. Partick go into it on good performances, but maybe not the results they would have liked in recent weeks.''

Meanwhile, Wright vowed to move on from the frustration of Sunday's 5-2 defeat by Celtic. The Perth side had two penalty appeals rejected before referee Craig Thomson gave the champions a spot-kick to draw level at 2-2 following an extremely harsh handball decision against Keith Watson.

"We have been disappointed with some of the decisions that we feel should have been easy decisions to make in the two games against Celtic,'' Wright said.

"But that's gone, I have spoken to Craig and we have certainly left it in the past and we move on. He rang me and what was said will remain between the two of us.

"That's a line drawn under it as far as I'm concerned.''