What has went wrong at St. Johnstone this season?

It is fair to say St. Johnstone have not quite hit the heights of last season in 21/22 so far. 

From cup double winners to rock bottom of the Scottish Premiership at the halfway stage, the Perth club’s decline is clear to see. 

Today, I’ll be delving into said regression and looking at what has went wrong at McDiarmid Park this season. 

Sale of prized assets and failure to thoroughly replace them

After the most successful and trophy laden season in the club’s history, it was inevitable there would be interest in some of St. Johnstone’s prized assets in the summer transfer window. This was certainly the case with all of Scott Tanser, Guy Melamed, Jason Kerr and Ali McCann departing the club in the summer. 

The two former both left on free transfers to St. Mirren and Bnei Sakhnin respectively whereas Kerr and McCann sought new opportunities south of the border. They both brought in a combined £1.89 million according to Transfermarkt. 

Kerr, double cup winning club captain, joined Wigan Athletic in English League One. The fee for this deal was around £630,000. A slightly underwhelming price for a twenty four year old centre back who already has a wealth of experience and invaluable leadership qualities. For his new club this season though, Kerr has been somewhat confounding, managing to register just eleven appearances in all competitions. 

Ali McCan has managed to rack up sixteen appearances for his new side, Preston North End. The Northern Irishman joined the Championship club as St. Johnstone’s second highest departure, bringing in a reported £1.26 million for his former team. As one of the top prospects in Scottish football in 20/21, the fee McCann left St. Johnstone for was similarly dismaying to that of Kerr’s. 

In addition, another disappointing aspect of the departures of some of the Perth side’s key assets of last season was the failure to thoroughly replace them although this is understandable when two of St. Johnstone’s key players departed on deadline day.

Just two of the eight incomings at McDiarmid Park in the summer were permanent. The other six were loan deals and only temporary solutions to St. Johnstone’s problems. This, combined with the number of players due to be out of contract at the end of the current campaign means there are several members of the first team squad at St. Johnstone who are not expected to be there next season. This is a dangerous strategy and could be seen as playing with fire. 

Furthermore, several players who were brought in to reinforce the squad have not particularly been up to the mark. This is proved with the fact both Lars Dendoncker and Reece Devine were recalled to their parent clubs after a barren six months in Scotland. In addition, fellow loanees Hayden Muller, Glenn Middleton and Cammy MacPherson have managed to rack up just twenty league starts between them. That’s without mentioning Finnish striker Eetu Vertainen who was signed from Ilves. The twenty two year old has made just eight appearances and is yet to score. 

On a more positive note, James Brown was brought in permanently after spending a prosperous six months in Perth last season. The defender signed a two year deal and this looks like one of the most sensible pieces of business St. Johnstone carried out over the summer. Furthermore, Ali Crawford initially signed on loan from Bolton Wanderers however that move has since been made permanent. The midfielder signed a two and half year deal after scoring two goals in sixteen appearances in the first half of this season. 

Clearly, the transfer market was an area St. Johnstone struggled in in the summer with arguably just two of the eight incomings being successful ones. However, between the closing of the last transfer window and the opening of the current one, Callum Davidson has been able to acquire the services of some more experienced players like Efe Ambrose, Viv Solomon-Otabor and Jacob Butterfield. 

Despite this bolstering of the group, work still has to be done in the January transfer window to get St. Johnstone’s squad in a more passable state for the second half of the season. We’ll talk more on that later though. 

We’ve explored St. Johnstone’s exertions off the pitch this season but it’s now time to look at what’s gone wrong on it. 

Failure to score 

St. Johnstone were renowned for their defensive solidity last season and they are the seventh best side at the back in the Scottish Premiership in 21/22 so far which is neither over pleasing or shocking. However, this is not where St. Johnstone’s problems lie. It is in attack where they’ve struggled this season. 

Callum Davidson’s men have scored just eleven goals in twenty league games this season which makes them the worst attacking side in the division. They also have the lowest xG (expected goals) in the Scottish Premiership with 13.3.

The creativity of David Wotherspoon has evidently been missed with the thirty year old suffering a cruciate ligament injury although those on the park have not been considerably inspiring. Chris Kane has scored just three league goals in sixteen appearances and Stevie May has netted only twice in all competitions this season. 

Also, it appears that teams have been able to nullify St. Johnstone’s right hand side, one of their main threats. Doing so means they are able to cope with their attacking drive as a whole. 

The reality that scoring goals has been one of St. Johnstone’s main issues this season is outlined with the fact they have the soundest defence in the bottom six at the halfway stage, despite sitting bottom. 

European Adventure 

Another factor that has contributed to St. Johnstone’s downfall is their European campaign. 

By winning the cup double last season, St. Johnstone made sure they would play in European qualifiers in 21/22. They started out in the Europa League third round where they would take on Turkish giants Galatasaray. 

In the first leg, the Perth Sainties secured an historic result, earning a 1-1 draw away from home. However, they would succumb to defeat in the second leg, suffering a 4-2 defeat which saw them bow down into the Europa Conference League. 

In the play off first leg, it was a similar story to their previous Europa League tie, drawing 1-1 away. The home leg was not as much of a thrilling score line as the Galatasaray match though; a 2-0 defeat saw St. Johnstone be knocked out of Europe all together. 

Now, you may be wandering what has their European shenanigans got to to with St. Johnstone’s poor league form. Well, the chance to secure European group stage football for the first time in the club’s history as well as the financial rewards this could bring would clearly be of top priority. 

And it certainly was. This is proved with St. Johnstone’s results at the outset of the domestic campaign. Sandwiched in between their ties with Galatasaray was a 1-1 draw at home to Motherwell. A week later, Callum Davidson’s men were taken to a penalty shootout in the league cup by Championship side Arbroath. Clearly, the tight schedule was beginning to take its toll and in between their two ties with LASK in the Europa Conference League play off, St. Johnstone suffered their first league defeat of the season, losing 1-0 at home to Tam Courts’ Dundee United. 

As alluded to, understandably, for a club of St. Johnstone’s stature (with absolutely no disrespect whatsoever), the prospect of having European group stage football would take imperial concern over any other matters. This was undoubtedly what happened and contributed to their inability to taste victory in the league until the 18th of September. 

Looking ahead

Clearly, there has to be investment into the St. Johnstone squad in January and so far, three additions have been made, if you don’t include the turning of Ali Crawford’s loan into a permanent deal that is. 

Centre back Dan Cleary signed from Dundalk on a free transfer after making an impressive 118 appearances in which he won two league titles with the Irish side. The twenty five year old looks to be a long term replacement for Jason Kerr who departed on deadline day in the summer transfer window. Cleary is most definitely an upgrade on Lars Dendoncker who initially looked to be Kerr’s successor however, as mentioned, the twenty year old was recalled by Brighton after struggling North of the border. 

As well as the shrewd signing of Dan Cleary, St. Johnstone also secured the services of former Falkirk, Toronto and Liverpool left back Tony Gallacher. Gallacher signed a two and half year deal and will provide healthy competition for Callum Booth on St. Johnstone’s left hand side. 

The most recent incorporation to Callum Davidson’s side was a familiar name to Scottish football fans. Experienced striker Nadir Ciftci has been brought in to solve the issue of a lack of goals. The Turk certainly has the credentials to do so, registering a combined forty goals and twenty three assists in his spells at Dundee United, Celtic and Motherwell. Ciftci is familiar with the league and clearly knows where the goal is. At twenty nine, he still has a lot to offer and you’d think his goalscoring abilities could be key to any St. Johnstone success in the remainder of the current campaign. 

The second half of the 21/22 season is an enormous one for St. Johnstone. The cup double winners must lift themselves off the bottom of the Scottish Premiership and avoid relegation. The need to get results and build on their three Scottish Premiership wins is massive. Hopefully, from a St. Johnstone point of view, they can turn it around and recapture the spirit of last season to not make this campaign a contrast of that. 

It should be remembered however, at this stage last season, St. Johnstone were not in the most wealthy of positions either and we all know how that campaign ended. 

Before we finish, I’d like to thank Twitter account @StJohnstoneFans for their insight into the club’s season so far. Be sure to give them a follow. 

Finally, thank you for reading this article. If you have any thoughts or opinions, leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Josh_Footblog for more Scottish football content.