St Johnstone to welcome crisis-torn Hearts to McDiarmid Park for season opener

SAINTS boss Tommy Wright hopes Hearts troubles have eased by the time the new campaign kicks off on August 3.

ST JOHNSTONE boss Tommy Wright insists his side cannot afford to take it easy against financially stricken Hearts when they kick off the new season.

The Perth side will welcome the Tynecastle club - who are expected to be put into administration later today - to McDiarmid on August 3 for their first top-flight fixture under the auspices of the newly merged set-up.

But despite the fact the entire Jambos first-team squad has been put up for sale, Saints boss Wright is wary of a backlash from their players.

Saints then face a trip to Kilmarnock on August 10 before welcoming Ross County to Perth on week three of the season.

But it the Hearts fixture which is utmost in Wright's mind.

The Northern Irishman, who was unveiled as St Johnstone manager yesterday, has experienced the pain of administration during his spell in charge of Distillery in his homeland.

He only left the Lisburn club in 2011 to join Steve Lomas in Perth as his assistant, but saw first-hand the fight the club's insolvency problems inspired in his old team's players.

Wright said: "There is a lot of time still to pass before the first game. Hopefully their financial problems will be sorted out by then.

"Will their situation play any part in our thoughts ahead of the game? No, no, no.

"I can only focus on my own team and that's what I'll try to do. There might be a lot of press coverage on Hearts between now but I can only prepare St Johnstone for the game.

"I sympathise with the position Gary Locke is in but we will never underestimate anybody.

"The players and supporters at Hearts deserve a lot of credit for how they have handled the situation, Gary too.

"I had a similar situation myself at Distillery, even though it was only part-time football. The club went into administration and a few of the players had an option to leave.

"But we held them together and we used it as a motivation to prove people wrong. A lot of folk had us favourites to be relegated but we stayed up.

"The second year we actually got top six and won a cup. So I know you can use it to gel together. The Hearts players have shown in the past what the club means to them and their supporters should take heart from that."

St Johnstone will return to competitive action ahead of the new SPFL campaign when they line up as one of the non-seeds in the Europa League second qualifying round.

The first leg will take place on July 18, with the return a week later on July 25.

They will learn their opponents on Monday and Wright admits excitement is growing.

"I think the Hearts game it is a good start for us in the league, a home tie on the back of our European games," said Wright, whose side follow up their league opener with matches against Kilmarnock away, Ross County at home and trips to both Dundee United and Aberdeen.

"We were quite strong at home last year with a decent record against Hearts. You have got to play them all at some stage so we are happy with what we have got in the first few games.

"We are back for pre-season next week and we will start preparing for Europe. That will add a wee bit more excitement to the work we've got to do with the lads.

"It certainly shortens pre-season too - you get into the competitive games a lot quicker too.

"We're looking forward to it. We've got 16 signed players, which is more than we had last year. We'll get more in and that will give us the best chance to get through that opening round of the Europa League."

Taken from the Daily Record