St Johnstone

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Dan Phillips says he enjoys people writing off St Johnstone as they look to secure Premiership survival.

The Trinidad and Tobago midfielder has been a key performer for Craig Levein's side, who currently sit 10th, one point above the relegation play-off.

“I like when people are giving us a bit of stick or are against us," Phillips said.

“Whatever position you are in, you have to spin it to suit you. If we were looking up the way we would still be thinking we have got something to chase.

“The position we are in now, we have to think we are fighting. Every point we get is really important.”

With Levein already confirming Phillips is unlikely to stay at the club beyond the expiry of his contract in the summer, the 23-year-old says he's not focusing on the future.

“It doesn’t affect me at all. I haven’t seen any speculation," he added.

"I am only focused on the season here and making sure we have a good end to the season.”

Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie returns from suspension and caretaker manager Peter Leven has a full squad.

St Johnstone attacker Diallang Jaiyesimi is back in contention while Sven Sprangler is set to return to Scotland after receiving treatment for a knee injury in Austria.

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We asked who has been your standout player for St Johnstone this season.

Here's what you had to say:

Brian: Graham Carey has been far better than any other player all season.

Jason: Adama Sidibeh.

Les: It's been a rotten season to say the least. Player of the year is definitely Dimitar Mitov - he is a shoo-in. He has been the one highlight; I very much doubt he will be at McDiarmid Park next season, no matter which league we are in.

Dennis: No one is suitable for player of the year, other than maybe the goalkeeper Mitov. Worst team I have seen in my time.

James: There's only one contender - Mitov.

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland

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St Johnstone manager Craig Levein insists he "isn't thinking about" a potential takeover as they battle to avoid relegation.

The Perth club's owner Geoff Brown has agreed to sell his majority stake to American businessman Adam Webb, but Levein says his sole focus is on the season's run-in, starting with Saturday's trip to Aberdeen.

"I've spoken to Geoff (Brown) a while ago about it, but what influence can I have over that?" Levein said.

"For me, it's going on in the background. I’m not thinking about it and if it does happen I don't know when it will happen.

"I don't think that I need to focus at all on that at the moment. Making sure that the team is in good shape is the most important thing."

St Johnstone sit 10th in the Premiership, one point above Ross County in the playoff spot, but Levein isn't looking for any favours elsewhere.

"We can’t affect the results of any other teams other than our own and this weekend against Aberdeen," he said.

"We've looked at the last couple of games that we've played against them, we’ve looked at their recent matches, and we've got a game plan.

"Training has been good this week, so I'm reasonably relaxed about the situation, although Aberdeen are a good side."

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland

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St Johnstone manager Craig Levein has been speaking to the media ahead of his side's Scottish Premiership trip to Aberdeen on Saturday.

Here are the key points from his press conference:

• Says his players are in "good shape", and have been "training well", and their confidence hasn't been knocked after the loss to Hibs last weekend.

• Expecting a tough game against "a good Aberdeen side", who are in "reasonably good form", and "have a threat in their front line with Miovski".

• He believes his side "are capable of scoring against them" and "getting the first goal will be important".

• When asked about Adam Webb buying a majority stake in the club, Levein was reluctant to go into any details. Says he spoke to Geoff Brown about it a while ago, but says "for him it's going on in the background" and he is just focusing on the league run-in.

• In principle he's still a supporter of VAR. He feels mistakes have been human ones, and the equipment is not to blame. Admits those mistakes have been "hugely frustrating and "costly". Believes it's not going anywhere, and if referees become "really good in the VAR room, it will be good".

• Team news: Adama Sidibeh is fit against after injuring his ankle last weekend. Drey Wright and Cammy MacPherson came off the bench last weekend against Hibs, but Levein says they may not be ready for starts yet. He'll also seek medical advice on Sven Sprangler, who's back at the club after recovering from a knee injury.

When Craig Levein was appointed manager in November, he was viewed by most as "a safe pair of hands" who would surely lift St Johnstone clear of relegation trouble.

The fans' faith has dwindled significantly in the months that followed and the former Scotland manager's side are still involved in a head-to-head with second-bottom Ross County to avoid a play-off.

Add into the mix this week's news that long-term owner Geoff Brown has agreed to sell his controlling interest to American lawyer Adam Webb and the stakes are perhaps now even higher for the 59-year-old.

Webb has revealed no detail about his plans other than "success on the pitch", so Levein and his players will no doubt have even more incentive to improve on a run of four defeats, conceding two or more goals in each, in their latest five league games.

That is easier said than done on Saturday as they visit a steadily improving Aberdeen side under interim manager Peter Leven who have not lost over 90 minutes in six games - their Scottish Cup penalty shoot-out loss to Celtic being the one blip - and are unbeaten in four at home.

However, Saints are unbeaten in their three meetings with Dons this season, draws home and away being followed by a 2-0 win on their last visit to Pittodrie in February.

Including that game, the Saints have won three of their latest six on the road, albeit they lost the other three, so after two successive home defeats, Levein may be happy to take his side to a venue where they have only lost twice in the latest nine visits, winning four of them.

Read all the weekend Premiership picks

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Can St Johnstone produce a "Levein special" at Pittodrie on Saturday to boost their survival hopes?

The Perth side have won just one of their last six games and sit 10th in the Scottish Premiership, one point ahead of second-bottom Ross County.

However, Craig Levein's men did win their last meeting with Aberdeen, a 2-0 win at Pittodrie in February, and are unbeaten against them this season.

"I can kind of see a Levein special at Pittodrie," Daily Record football journalist Daniel Caw told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"I can see him going there with his tactical nous; I think St Johnstone will get something.

"I don't know if it will quite be all three points, but I just think Aberdeen will be so deflated after that semi-final a couple of weeks ago.

"St Johnstone, with Levein, I just can't see them losing at the weekend."

Former St Johnstone defender Shaun Rooney has left Fleetwood Town with Perth fans sending out a "bring him home" message. (The Courier), external

Read the rest of Friday's Scottish gossip.

It's not been the best of seasons for St Johnstone, but has anyone stood out to you?

Who would you like to see named as the Perth side's player of the year? Have your say here.

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• Aberdeen have only won two of their last nine home league games against St Johnstone (D3 L4), losing most recently 2-0 in February.

• After their 2-0 win in February, St Johnstone could win back-to-back league meetings with Aberdeen for the first time since October 2015.

• Aberdeen have won two of their last three Scottish Premiership home matches (D1), as many as they managed in their previous 11 games at Pittodrie (D6 L3).

• St Johnstone have lost four of their last five league matches (W1), conceding 2+ goals in all four of those defeats. In fact, since losing their first match of 2024 on 7 February, St Johnstone have lost the most matches (8) and conceded the joint-most goals (20) in the competition.

• St Johnstone’s Dimitar Mitov has prevented 10.1 goals in the Scottish Premiership this season according to Opta’s Goals Prevented model – the most of any goalkeeper - conceding 48 goals (excl. own goals) from an expected goals on target conceded (xGOT) figure of 58.1.

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American businessman Adam Webb, whose proposal to buy the majority stake in St Johnstone from Geoff Brown has been accepted, says he looks forward to becoming a "custodian" of the club.

Webb, along with business partner Matthew Klase, has set up a company to complete the takeover, which they are "optimistic" of being completed soon.

Improving the fan experience and success on the pitch are some of the key aims of the prospective regime, according to Webb.

"As noted in media reports today [Wednesday], Saints in America, LLC has been negotiating with Geoffrey Brown, OBE toward purchasing his controlling interest in St Johnstone FC," he said in a statement.

"The process is ongoing and we will not make a detailed statement at this time. We are at liberty to state, however, that we are optimistic about the transaction being approved and finalized in short order and we look forward to serving as custodians of the club for many years to come.

"The Browns and the staff at St Johnstone have been a pleasure to deal with and the fans and the people of Perth have been most welcoming.

"We are excited to take on the challenge to grow the club through success on the pitch, improving the fan experience, dedication to the community, and respect for the 140 years of history and tradition at St Johnstone."

St Johnstone continue their post-split games with a trip to Pittodrie to take on Aberdeen.

But who should be in the starting line-up for Saturday's game?

Put yourself in Craig Levein's shoes and pick your XI here.

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Twenty-six decisions since the start of the Premiership season have been deemed incorrect by the Scottish FA's VAR independent review panel.

The tally, based on incidents requested by the panel or submitted for consideration, is a rise of 10 since February's last meeting of the group.

Not among the incidents included was one where Hibernian claimed the Scottish FA agreed an error had been made.

The governing body later disputed that assertion, made after Hibs were not awarded a penalty after Aberdeen's Nicky Devlin handled in February's 2-2 draw.

The 10 incorrect decisions shared with Premiership clubs on Wednesday were:

Rangers 2-1 Aberdeen (6/02/24): VAR intervention was correct, but final outcome should have been yellow card to Rangers' Dujon Sterling. Referee retained his on-field decision of a red card.

St Mirren 2-0 Dundee (7/02/24): VAR intervention was correct, but final outcome should have been yellow card to St Mirren's James Bolton. Referee retained his on-field decision of a red card.

Ross County 1-1 St Mirren (27/2/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Final outcome should have been penalty awarded against Ross County for handball.

Hearts 1-1 Hibernian (28/2/24): VAR intervention correct, but penalty decision, which led to Hearts' equaliser, should have been overturned - no foul and no penalty should have been awarded.

Kilmarnock 1-2 Rangers (28/2/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Final outcome should have been penalty decision, which led to Kilmarnock opening the scoring, overturned - no handball offense against Rangers.

Hearts 2-0 Celtic (3/3/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Penalty decision should have been overturned - no foul and no penalty should have been awarded to Celtic.

Hearts 2-0 Celtic (3/3/24): On-field decision correct, no penalty to Hearts. Handball should not have been awarded for spot-kick that led to opening goal.

Motherwell 0-1 Aberdeen (16/04/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Penalty to Motherwell should have been awarded for handball.

Hibernian 1-2 St Johnstone (6/4/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Penalty should have been awarded to Hibs for foul by St Johnstone goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov.

St Mirren 1-2 Hearts (6/4/24): VAR intervention correct, but penalty should have been awarded to St Mirren for a foul on Conor McMenamin by Aidan Denholm.

It now looks a straight fight between St Johnstone and Ross County for the relegation play-off place.

It’s difficult to predict, but from what I’ve seen of County, they have a bit about them. They have a goal threat, they’ve got patterns of play, and Don Cowie has done an unbelievable job to turn around what was a toxic environment when Derek Adams walked out.

There’s a bit of positivity at County – even after the weekend defeat by Livingston – but I’m not sure the same can be said for St Johnstone.

The style of football under Craig Levein is dire. It inspires no positivity and is inherently negative. It might get the odd result here and there, but do folk want to be involved in that?

It’s worrying times for St Johnstone. Their form is not great at all, I don’t see a massive goal threat, and three of their last four games are away, whereas County have three at home.

County’s only away game is at McDiarmid Park – that’s a huge one.

St Johnstone just look flat. And you would fear for them in the play-offs.

Michael Stewart was speaking to BBC Sport Scotland's Martin Watt

Sam Miller
Fan writer

When we needed heart, we stood off. When we needed courage on the ball, we got misplaced passes. When we needed players to step up, we got bad defending and a complete lack of confidence.

St Johnstone's match against Hibs, who had little at stake, was the perfect opportunity to get some points on the board and push closer to safety.

But instead we got a lacklustre performance void of any positives. If it wasn't for Dimitar Mitov in goal it could have been the proverbial cricket score, and this isn't the first time I've said that this season.

Craig Levein's podcast may be called 'Sacked in the Morning' for now, but if he can't turn this around it could be 'Sacked after losing in the play-off'.

As it stands, not many people can see any other outcome.

Sam Miller can be found on the Dogger Saints podcast., external

Sportscene pundit Neil McCann on how St Johnstone goakeeper Dimitar Mitov saved his side from an even heavier defeat against Hibs. (Available to UK users only)

Watch the best of the action from Hibernian's win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. (Available to UK users only)

We asked for your thoughts on St Johnstone's 3-1 home defeat by Hibernian.

Here is what some of you said:

Ally: Probably the poorest performance I’ve seen from Saints. Watching the players' efforts and reactions to going two goals down was very disappointing. Too many negative players, a pure reflection of our management team. Mr Brown needs to remove Craig Levein and Andy Kirk immediately and put Alex Cleland in charge until the end of the season.

Jason: Gutless, leaderless and going to end up going down. Ryan McGowan said they needed the fans - we needed a team to show so fight and passion, but we got neither. Levein says it was a good week in training but they can't even pass 10 yards - disgraceful.

Anon: Manager trotting out the same crap after every home game. Too many backward passes when a forward one may create a chance/mistake. Need to get rid of the negative mindset, so thanks Craig, but yer number's up. I thought he was the answer, but I was wrong. Said it here before, play-offs are us.

Jackie: Apart from Dimitar Mitov, I don’t rate any player in this team that will save us from relegation. We just don’t play as a team. Levein hasn’t done anything to help us since he took over as manager. Four games now to save our season. Can’t see it happening.

Gordon: I actually cannot bring myself to even listen to Levein any more. The only thing I can reasonably think is that dismissing Levein and Kirk MIGHT save us. If they remain in charge, we will sleepwalk our way to relegation. They have been proved over and over and over again of being unable to even do the basic thing of motivating the players. The ba' is bust.

Anon: I thought Levein was a safe option to keep us up. 1-0 up at Dens Park in January we were actually sixth in the league. Too many players playing the season out as they are out of contract. We are going down via play-off and I will take that as overhaul from top to bottom is required. Form says we deserve to be relegated.

What did you make of that St Johnstone fans? Do you agree with Craig Levein's sentiments, or did you see any positives in the game?

Have your say here.

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St Johnstone manager Craig Levein tells BBC Scotland: "I don't think we deserved anything from the match. First-half performance was poor. That gave Hibs the hope they needed. We gave them a 2-0 lead at half-time and we tried manfully to get back into the game but we didn't manage it.

[On Mitov's performance] "Dimitar has done that all season for us and we've come to expect him to pull of those type of saves. We had to go for it in the second half and opened ourselves up to the counter.

"In the first-half we couldn't pass the ball to each other and that's quite important. We made poor decisions and gave the ball away, we need to take more care in the final third. Our crossing was poor. More often than not we hit the first man.

[On Ross County result] "It gives us a big bit of hope. I'd rather be in our position than Ross County's. We need to do much better next time out."

Andrew Petrie, BBC Sport Scotland

The sliding doors moment in this game could be pinpointed to Adama Sidibeh's first-half miss.

The striker has done well since his January arrival in Perth, but when one-on-one he had to score and level the game. From there who knows what could have happened, but instead momentum swung to the visitors.

There were positives in that first-half. Dan Phillips looked superb, breaking up the midfield play. Luke Robinson was charging up the left, well backed up by Andy Considine.

The wind was taken out of their sails by the second goal, they became desperate in the second-half, and it took them far too long to find a goal.