Tommy Wright refutes claims Saints were ‘fed’ team information on Rangers last season

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has hit back at “paranoid'' Pedro Caixinha following claims his side were leaked team information last season.

The Rangers boss alleged on Wednesday that Wright had been fed team news from his camp ahead of the final game of the season, which supposedly led to a delayed training session specifically designed to counter Gers' threats.

However, Wright reacted forcefully to those claims, accusing Caixinha of "not showing respect'' after wholeheartedly denying he had an insider in the Rangers set-up.

"What he's talking about in terms of us getting their team last season, is just someone that's paranoid,'' the Saints boss said. "I didn't get his team last season, it surprises me that he says I did.

"We didn't change our training regime, we didn't wait for them to finish training to get the team. It just didn't happen, so I now know what 'fake news' means, because it didn't happen.

"He obviously has problems, he says there's a spy in the camp, and it looks like he has a spy in our camp to be able to say we changed training, but that's duff information because it never happened.

"We tried to second guess their team, which all managers do, but under no circumstances was I given the team or change training the day before the game because I do the same preparation, and it didn't happen.

"The comments are wrong and untrue about another manager at another club, and maybe someone should look into that because he has no proof.''

The teams face each other on Friday night in what is quickly becoming a grudge match, while the two sides remain neck-and-neck in the Scottish Premiership table.

Just one win in their last five games has seen Saints' promising start to the season falter, leaving them level on 14 points with Rangers who lie third in the table, and Wright suggested the Portuguese manager was wasting his time making comments in the media ahead of the game.

He said: "His mind games are working. He's enrolled in some university course in Portugal so they must be telling him that's how they deal with things.

"I think his focus should be chasing Celtic and making sure they don't get 10 in a row, rather than trying to play mind games and not showing respect to another manager.

"Because when you tell untruths about another manager, that's not showing respect and really that should be his focus.''

He added: "My team don't need silly comments to motivate them. Our motivation has always been to win the game."