St Johnstone

Striker Chris Kane intends to repay the faith shown in him by St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean. (Courier - subscription required), external

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St Johnstone striker Nicky Clark is back in training after an ankle injury and will be assessed ahead of the visit of his former club.

Jaiyesimi (hamstring) is a doubt while Drey Wright (calf) is unlikely to return and Sven Sprangler is awaiting work permit clearance. Ali Crawford (calf), Ross Sinclair (broken arm) and Callum Booth (back) remain out.

Rangers midfielders Todd Cantwell and Kieran Dowell will miss the trip with knee injuries.

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James Brown felt comfortably numb when his wonder strike helped to stun Rangers last season and he hopes St Johnstone can conjure more heroics against the Ibrox men this weekend.

The 25-year-old defender laced a 25-yarded into the top corner to send Saints on their way to a 2-1 victory last November on Rangers' previous league visit to Perth.

“I’ll take a similar result for the goal, it’s a memory that’s nice to look back on, but anything along those lines I’d be happy to accept,” said Brown.

“It was good, it’s one of those, you go numb, you don’t expect to score from that but you just try your luck and it flew in.

“It was a bit of a blur at the time, I just remember hitting it and the next minute it went quiet a bit because normally they have more fans than us.

“It was just a shock and then I got a rugby tackle from behind from Ryan McGowan and then it was like ‘Oh, I’ve scored a goal.’

“It was made a lot sweeter by winning the game. It’s a day that you’ll look back on when it’s all done with a big smile.”

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St Johnstone youngster Ben McCrystal has joined Lowland League side Broomhill on loan for the season.

The midfielder, 17, featured twice for Saints in the League Cup groups this term, scoring on his debut in the 4-0 win at Alloa.

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St Johnstone were forced to cut their budget after posting a £1.5m loss. (Sun), external

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• St Johnstone have won just one of their last 18 meetings with Rangers in all competitions (D4 L13), a 2-1 victory in November 2022.

• Rangers have lost just once in their last 17 trips to St Johnstone in all competitions (W13 D3), while they have also scored at least once in each of their last 28 visits since a 2-0 league defeat under Walter Smith in January 1998.

• Along with Aberdeen, St Johnstone are one of two sides without a win in this season’s Scottish Premiership (D2 L2), although the Saints have drawn their last two such matches. They last drew three in a row in the league in August 2021, and last did so within a single season in January 2021.

• Rangers have lost their last two games in all competitions (5-1 v PSV, 1-0 v Celtic), while they last lost three on the bounce in September 2022.

• Rangers centre-back John Souttar has made more progressive carries (moving the ball upfield 5+ metres) than any player in this season’s Scottish Premiership (63), with these progressing Rangers a total of 743m upfield, again a league-high total.

St Johnstone return from the international break by hosting Rangers in the Premiership on Saturday.

Who should get the nod to start as Steven MacLean's men seek their first win of the campaign?

Make yourself the manager and choose your Saints formation and starting XI here.

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St Johnstone may opt for two up front against Rangers on Saturday, with Nicky Clark's chances of a return rated at 50-50. (Courier - subscription required), external

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St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean has pledged to take a positive approach against Rangers when under-pressure counterpart Michael Beale brings the Ibrox side to Perth on Saturday.

Saints are bottom of the table and seeking a first league win of the season but have drawn their last two outings, including a goalless stalemate at Celtic Park.

“Everybody compares the two teams, but they are different and they bring different shapes and different things to the game,” said MacLean.

“We will be looking for a similar performance, albeit it'll be a little bit different, but it's a game that we'll try and impose ourselves on.

“We’ll play in our own shape and really try to take the game to Rangers.

“We know against the Old Firm you have to be at your best and you hope they are not at their best.

“Hopefully we can go out and take care of our own performance and if we do that then it’ll give us a chance to get something out of the game."

Having reshaped his squad with 11 new signings this summer, MacLean has seen positive signs in recent weeks.

“You can see the training levels going up and improving every day, from where we were in pre-season to now, it’s so different," he added.

“Now is the time you will be able to judge my squad, we’re looking stronger every day and training has been really good.

“Win, lose or draw at the weekend, we’re still going to get better and keep improving.

“I’m really looking forward to progressing with this squad and we will get there and get good results going forward as a group.”

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Steven MacLean has been speaking to the media before St Johnstone face Rangers in the Premiership on Saturday.

Here are the key points from the Saints boss:

• The international break came at a good time and allowed the new players to “bed all the ideas in”.

• After a winless league start MacLean says positive results will come and his team will keep improving.

• With players returning from injury MacLean has more options and says there’s "really good competition for places”.

• He is looking for a similar standard of performance against Rangers to the one that earned a point at Celtic Park but is wary of comparing the Old Firm because they "bring different shapes and different things to the game".

• He "won’t rule anything out” despite telling senior players Ryan McGowan, Ali Crawford and Callum Booth they’re not in his plans, adding: “As long as you’re in the building and you train, if an opportunity becomes available you’ll get it."

• Saturday might be too early for Nicky Clark but it’s a boost to have the experienced striker back and he "brings a lot to the table".

• Dan Phillips and Dimitar Mitov have both returned to training following international duty, while Sam McClelland will be back on Friday.

• MacLean is excited to get Sven Sprangler in the squad once he passes his English exam in Austria.

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St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean recalls former team-mate Chris Millar's highly emotional state before they both helped the Perth side win the Scottish Cup in 2014 and says he wondered whether the midfielder would be able to play. (Courier - subscription required), external

Read Wednesday's Scottish Gossip

Four games, two points. Steven MacLean's first start to a season as manager certainly wasn't easy, but it's got slightly better...

Back-to-back 2-0 defeats to kick things off against Hearts and Ross County was far from ideal but gutsy draws against Celtic and Dundee ought to have brought a bit of positivity to Perth.

The Saints were far from firing on all cylinders. They only finally found the back of the net in the 82nd minute against Dundee through Max Kucheriavyi.

Unsurprisingly, they've had the lowest number of shots across the league in the opening four games with 35, and the fewest touches in the opposition box with 65.

However, Graham Carey has created a joint-second high of 10 chances.

Things have been a bit more promising up the other end, though, thanks to Dimitar Mitov. He's produced 20 saves so far, the second most in the league and boasts a save percentage of 76.9.

The impressive showings have stretched into the midfield with Daniel Phillips' 11 interceptions the second highest in the league. Matt Smith closely follows with 10.

Perhaps this goes hand-in-hand with the shaky start, but the Perthshire Saints are yet to find a settled line-up. With eight changes to their starting XI and 22 players used in total, it suggests MacLean doesn't quite know his best team yet.

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St Johnstone legend Sergei Baltacha says his grandson Alex, a 20-year-old central defender, has joined Saints' academy. (The Courier)

Read all Monday's gossip here.

Callum Davidson is feeling refreshed and ready for a return to management five months on from his St Johnstone dismissal.

"I’ve got my enthusiasm back," he told BBC Scotland Sportsound.

"I mean, I never lost my enthusiasm, I just kind of got a little break and it gives you clarity of where you were.

"I’m desperate to get back in at some point, hopefully it will happen soon."

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A controversial plan to shake up how football supporters' buses operate in Scotland has been shelved after a backlash.

The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain unveiled plans for new guidelines on what the supporters' buses can do on match days.

This included any pub stops only being allowed at premises which serve a "substantial meal" with alcohol bought.

The move was widely criticised and the senior commissioner has now halted work on the proposed guidelines, saying he had "listened to the strength of feeling expressed".

A joint statement from the Scottish FA, SPFL, and Scottish Women’s Premier League said "common sense has prevailed" and thanked "clubs, fans and politicians across the country for their unanimous support in opposing and ultimately preventing these unreasonable and unworkable guidelines from being implemented.”

Read more on the story here

St Johnstone keeper Dimitar Mitov made his international debut on Thursday but couldn't mark it with a win as Bulgaria suffered a 1-0 friendly defeat to Iran.

Mitov played the full 90 minutes in Plovdiv as the hosts went down to Mohammad Mohebi's 14th-minute strike.

The 26-year-old will hope to keep his place for Sunday's trip to face Montenegro when Bulgaria go in search of their first win in Euro 2024 qualifying.

Saints midfielder Dan Phillips helped Trindad and Tobago make a winning start in the CONCACAF Nations League as they edged out Curacao 1-0 at home.

Phillips, 22, earned his seventh cap and played 57 minutes before being substituted.

Image source, sns

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Callum Davidson says he still regrets changing his formation for his last game in charge of St Johnstone.

The 47-year-old club legend parted ways with Saints in April last season after a 2-0 defeat at Livingston left the club ninth in the Premiership, five points off the bottom.

Davidson says the knowledge he would be sacked if his side didn't beat Livi prompted his switch from a back three to a four.

“I got annoyed in my last game, I changed my formation, which annoyed me and it still sits with me today that I changed my formation because I got told if I didn’t win that game I was out,” he told BBC Scotland Sportsound.

"If I didn’t win it then I knew I was gone, so I just thought we would have a go, and to this day I wish I didn’t.

“I was always strong going into cups with my formations, even though there were people asking me to change it to two strikers up front.

“I stuck to my formation and stuck to my guns and that’s the only thing that really annoys me from the last little period that I went to a back four."

Davidson, who marked his debut season at the helm by leading Saints to an incredible League Cup and Scottish Cup double in 2020-21, won just two of his final 15 league games in charge in a tenure lasting just shy of three years.

He feels he was still "doing a good job" and insists he would have steered Saints to safety.

“It’s just disappointing because we were ninth in the league at the time, which isn’t too bad," he added.

"We would have liked to be higher but it was a rebuild of a squad and I felt we were in a good position, we had the bottom six to play, so it was a little bit disappointing.

“I only really changed my principles in the last game. Over the other year and a half, there were things that I could have done better, which you always learn, but I had confidence in what I was doing and I still believe I was doing a good job when I left so that was the biggest thing for me.”

St Johnstone's next two meetings with Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership have been pushed back a day because of the Dons' European involvement.

Steven MacLean's side will visit Pittodrie on Sunday, 8 October for a 15:00 kick-off and then host Aberdeen on Sunday, 17 December at 15:00.

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Scottish football’s leading governing bodies have criticised “unnecessary and heavy-handed” new proposals for fans travelling to games.

The UK government’s consultation paper ‘Guidelines for taking passengers to sporting events in Scotland’ proposes restrictions on buses carrying supporters to matches.

The proposed new rules include buses not being allowed to stop within 10 miles of the stadium without police permission, no stops at a pub for a beer unless it’s sold with a “substantial meal”, and no drop-offs or pick-ups from unauthorised locations without permission from the police.

A joint statement from the Scottish FA, SPFL and Scottish Women’s Premier League said: “There's no evidence that this is a significant problem in Scottish football. We are concerned by the targeted nature of these proposals, which serve to demonise football fans and interfere unnecessarily in people’s lives.

“In Scotland, there are already appropriate powers held by PHV operators, Police Scotland and other partners to deal effectively with a very small number of incidents by a minority of fans.

“The consultation itself notes that the majority of football fans are law-abiding and do not cause any disturbances when travelling to or from games, yet these proposals would unfairly affect the vast majority of football fans who travel safely and respectfully to and from matches on a weekly basis.

“We don’t support these unnecessary and heavy-handed proposals and we will be making our views clear in the consultation.”

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