St Johnstone

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Jason Holt has re-joined St Johnstone on a two-year deal.

The midfielder returns to Perth having spent a season on loan from Rangers back in 2019-20 under Tommy Wright.

The 31-year-old, who most recently racked up over 100 appearances with Livingston, links up again with Craig Levein who was manager of Hearts when he came through as a youngster.

Holt said "it's great to be back" at McDiarmid Park.

"I have had a spell here before, it was a short one, but it is now great to be back for a longer spell.

“I have really good memories of the club, it is a real family club and the supporters were always brilliant with me.

“It is an exciting time to be at St Johnstone and I look forward to meeting all the players and getting to work.”

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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St Johnstone are close to agreeing a deal with former Rangers and Livingston midfielder Jason Holt.

The 31-year-old is a free agent after his contract with Livingston expired at the end of last season.

As Holt is a free agent there is no urgency to rush this deal through before the 23:00 BST deadline.

However, if the relevant paperwork is completed in time, Holt’s arrival in Perth could be confirmed tonight.

We asked for your views on where St Johnstone still need to strengthen and what deals you would like completed before the transfer window closes.

Here's what some of you said:

Perry: We need a strong midfielder and an experienced goalkeeper, and we need to get more players out on loan who are not in Craig Levein’s plans moving forward.

Paul: After watching the first few games of the season, I think we need a more experienced goalkeeper. Joshua Rae has the potential but I don’t think he is ready to be first choice. I would also like to see a holding midfielder. Aaron Essel is young and will pick up bookings and needs someone to guide him and someone he can learn from.

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Taylor Steven has joined Cliftonville on loan from St Johnstone for the remainder of the campaign.

The attacker, 19, has made 11 appearances for the Saints, including six this season.

Steven impressed on loan at Alloa last season, scoring 10 goals in 32 games.

St Johnstone forward Adama Sidibeh, 26, has been given a four-game ban following his red card against Dundee United. (Sun), external

Liam Gordon departing St Johnstone for Motherwell was the 28-year-old defender's choice, says Saints manager Craig Levein. (Courier - subscription), external

Read Friday's Scottish gossip

As Friday's 23:00 BST transfer deadline edges closer, where do St Johnstone still need to strengthen and what deals would you like completed before the window closes?

Have your say here, external.

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• St Johnstone have only lost one of their last nine league meetings with Motherwell (W4 D4), going down 2-0 in May 2023.

• Five of Motherwell's last seven league visits to St Johnstone have been drawn, including both of the last two, with each side winning once each in this time.

• St Johnstone are winless in 10 home league matches (D4 L6), their longest such run in the top flight since another run of 10 from April to November 2001.

• Motherwell have kept just one clean sheet in their last 17 league games, with that coming in a 0-0 draw with Ross County on matchday one this season.

• Dan Casey has recorded more interceptions (8) than any other player in the Scottish Premiership this season, while he has also made more tackles (9) and blocked more shots (4) than any other Motherwell player.

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Adama Sidibeh says he is "honoured" to retain his place in the Gambia squad.

The 26-year-old St Johnstone forward marked his international debut in June by coming off the bench to score in the 5-1 win over the Seychelles in World Cup qualifying.

He earned his second cap with a start in a 3-2 defeat by Gabon three days later, and will join Johnathan McKinstry’s squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on September 4 and September 8 against the Comoros and Tunisia.

"It feels amazing to get another call-up to represent my home country," said Sidibeh. "I feel honoured."

Sam Miller
Fan writer

Adama Sidibeh. A player who only turned professional in February after signing from Warrington Rylands and has been linked with every club in the British Isles.

It looks like it's affecting him.

The striker turned in a 'heads gone' display against Dundee United, where he picked up a booking for a 'hand of god' moment.

The same hand later targeting a sensitive area of Kevin Holt's anatomy as well as poleaxing keeper Jack Walton made for a disastrous afternoon and a lengthy suspension.

On the plus side, it may ward off potential suitors for the dynamic forward. With the transfer deadline looming on Friday night, he won't feature again until that window is slammed shut. Every cloud!

Sam Miller can be found at The Dogger Saints Podcast, external

We asked for your thoughts after St Johnstone were beaten 2-0 by Dundee United on Saturday in the Scottish Premiership.

Here's a taste of what you had to say:

Ian: A bad miss in the first half didn't immediately turn the game, but the gift of a first goal did. Adama Sidibeh should have been subbed, he was off his best and on a yellow. Josh Rae gave up cheap goals again, maybe the step up in level has come too soon for him. Dimitar Mitov was a hard act to follow but Ross Sinclair has to be given a chance now.

Anon: Saints are much better than they were at this stage last season, and they do carry an attacking threat, but they need a ball-playing midfielder who can hold and pass the ball. Goalie is a bit shaky but has potential. Continued improvement needed to survive.

Anon: Once again, Craig Levein doesn't use his subs wisely, in fact he hardly uses them at all. Sibideh should have been subbed after the clash with the goalkeeper, then we wouldn't have a striker facing the possibility of two red cards but no, Levein (allegedly) knows best. Missing the open goal set us back but Rae has to take the blame for both goals.

Watch highlights as Dundee United beat St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership.

Available to UK users only.

St Johnstone manager Craig Levein has decided to let 22-year-old midfielder Max Kucheriavyi, who will be out of contract next summer, leave McDiarmid Park on loan. (Courier - subscription), external

Read Sunday's Scottish gossip

Dundee United picked up their first league win of the season as they punished 10-man St Johnstone at Tannadice.

After a terrible first half, Liverpool loanee Luca Stephenson put United ahead in the 54th minute when he reacted quickest to a David Babunski rebound.

Soon after Sidibeh's red card, United scored again. Josh Rae missed his punch from a throw-in and Jack Sanders accidentally nodded into his own goal.

What did you make of that, St Johnstone fans? Were you unlucky to lose this afternoon?

What does Craig Levein still need to do in the transfer window?

Let us know your thoughts here., external

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

The start of the second-half was more like it from St Johnstone. Benjamin Kimpioka and Adama Sidibeh were starting to link with the midfield and Carey was getting on the ball.

He's 35 but the Irishman still has the quality to fire in a game-winning goal - which he very nearly did in the 49th minute.

Then the first goal went in, soft defending and goalkeeping combining to gift United a chance, and the heads went - particularly from Sidibeh.

The Gambian striker has the raw talent to make it at this level but his ill-discipline cost his side and Craig Levein would have every right to be fuming with his striker.

He will now face a ban and the question for St Johnstone is - do they have anyone who can replicate his flair and physical attributes?

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St Johnstone boss Craig Levein told BBC Scotland: "Going in at half-time I was relatively happy. We'd created chances, I thought we were the better side. Until we lost the goal, I still thought we were pretty good.

"Then we slumped after that. Then the sending off occurs and throws us into a tailspin. It's hard enough getting into a game behind, but being a man down makes it doubly difficult.

"We were good enough to take something from the game but we made mistakes and got punished for it.

"There's not an awful lot wrong. We're still developing relationships between players - defenders and the goalkeeper. We'll keep working on that.

"Some need to go out. We desperately need another centre-back with Sam McClelland being injured. That's something I'll be looking at."

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Dundee United: Walton, Adegboyega, Graham, Gallagher, Stephenson, Babunski, Sibbald, Holt, Ferry, Trapanovski, Van der Sande.

Substitutes: Richards, Moult, Odada, Middleton, Fotheringham, Docherty, Thomson, Cleall-Harding, Ubochioma.

St Johnstone: Rae, Neilson, Sanders, Cameron, Wright, Essel, M Smith, Carey, Raymond, Kimpioka, Sidibeh.

Substitutes: Sinclair, MacPherson, Clark, C Smith, Sprangler, McPake, Kirk, Franczak, Keltjens.

Dundee United defender Vicko Sevelj returns from suspension but has had a tight hamstring and will be assessed. Ryan Strain is out long term with a hamstring problem.

St Johnstone could welcome back David Keltjens but Sam McClelland is out long-term with an Achilles injury and Uche Ikpeazu (knee) is still out.

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Lewis Neilson has challenged himself to become an established Premiership player during his loan spell with St Johnstone.

The 21-year-old joined Hearts from Dundee United two years ago and made 16 appearances in his first season at Tynecastle before turning out 43 times for Partick Thistle on loan last season in the Championship.

The defender has started all three games since joining Craig Levein's side and hopes to keep his place to prove he can compete in the top-flight.

"I felt going into pre-season I was ready to play for Hearts but just the size of the squad at the minute – they've got a vast amount of players of really good quality – so just to continue to get the number of games I need, it was better to come to St Johnstone, where I can hopefully play every week," he said.

"Hopefully I can play as many games as I can here and make my mark in the Premiership, and hopefully that will be enough to go and cement a spot at Hearts next season.

"I definitely feel season on season I’ve become a better player.

"Going into Hearts two years ago, I was maybe too young to make a mark and keep my spot in the team but I got some great experiences, like European games, which were massive for me.

"Then I had a really good loan spell at Thistle, where I played 43 games. Especially as a centre-half, it's hard to replicate game-like situations in training so I need to be playing games, like I got last year, and hopefully it looks like I’m going to be getting this year as well."

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The Scottish Premiership match between Ross County and St Johnstone scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 4 December will now take place on Saturday, 21 September, the SPFL have announced.

The clash has been moved at the request of both clubs, and will kick off at 15:00 BST.

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• Dundee United are winless in their last seven Scottish Premiership home games against St. Johnstone (D2 L5), losing their last three in a row.

• St. Johnstone have only won one of their last 13 away games against newly promoted opponents in the Scottish Premiership (D7 L5), a 1-0 win at Kilmarnock in May 2023. They drew both of their trips to Dundee United the last season in which the Tangerines were a promoted side (2020-21).

• Dundee United have drawn their opening two Scottish Premiership fixtures this season (2-2 v Dundee, 1-1 v Ross County) – the last team to draw their opening three matches of a top-flight campaign were rivals Dundee in 2014-15, who were also a newly promoted side (Ross County could also do so this weekend).

• St. Johnstone have won their last two Scottish Premiership away games and will be aiming to win three in a row on the road in the competition for the first time since December 2018 under Tommy Wright (6 in a row).

• This will be St. Johnstone manager Craig Levein’s first top-flight match against former club Dundee United since a 1-1 draw with Hearts in October 2004. Levein has lost just one of his last eight such meetings with the Tangerines (W6 D1 – all with Hearts), a 1-2 defeat in November 2003.

• All 12 Premiership sides provided a total of 15,101 minutes to Scottish players aged under 21 in the 2023-24 season.

• Those minutes average out to just 1,258 per club, which is the equivalent of only 14 full 90-minute matches.

• Six teams failed to reach a total above 700 minutes.

• Celtic and Rangers were the worst offenders in the division, with Celtic managing just 89 minutes all in, while Rangers' total was even lower at only 26.

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St Johnstone striker Stevie May has joined Livingston on loan until the end of the campaign.

The 31-year-old has featured only once for the Perth side this season, as a substitute in the Premier Sports Cup tie away to Brechin City in July.

Last term, he scored just once, having hit goals 10 in the previous campaign.

May, capped once for Scotland in 2014, won two Scottish Cups and the League Cup over two spells with St Johnstone.

A lack of first-team action given to youngsters in the Premiership backs up the Scottish FA's assertion that Scotland is not bringing through enough emerging talent.

Just three of the 12 top-flight teams are able to say they provided over 2,000 minutes to Scots aged under 21 across last season's pre-split fixtures.

Dundee sit top of the 2023-24 table with 3,538, but a large chunk of that was clocked up by the one player - Lyall Cameron.

The same applies to the three next best clubs on the chart, Aberdeen (Connor Barron), Kilmarnock (David Watson) and Motherwell (Lennon Miller).

At the bottom of the table are both Old Firm clubs, with the pair posting concerning figures - Celtic just 89 minutes and Rangers only 26.

The report uses Hungary's top flight - a 12-team league - as a direct comparison. It shows Honved provided 6,544 minutes to Hungarian under-21 players, PAFC reached more than 5,000 and two more clubs achieved over 3,000.

Click here to read more on how Scottish football is failing young players.