St Johnstone are looking for Chris Kane to tread the same path to success as Stevie May after sending the 19-year-old striker out on loan.
Kane has joined Championship club Dumbarton, initially for a month but with an option to extend the deal to the end of the season.
Saints have, of course, used the loan system tremendously well in the past, with star man May having learned a lot at both Hamilton Accies and Alloa before returning to set Scottish football alight with the Perth club.
So manager Tommy Wright is hoping this latest move will benefit both clubs and, especially, the player himself.
“Chris has gone to Dumbarton and I think it is important that he gets playing regular football at a good level,” said Wright.
“It is for 28 days initially but there is an agreement that he can stay to the end of the season if it all works out.
“He is not quite ready to start for us and there is a bit of development to be done.
“I would rather have Chris out there playing at a good team under a good manager in Ian Murray.”St Johnstone sign Michael O’Halloran from Bolton WanderersWright, who takes his side to face Ross County on Saturday, added: “He will get opportunities at Dumbarton and what I hope is that he takes a similar path to the one taken by Stevie May.
“I have spoken to him and he is looking forward to it. It will be good for him.
“He is too good for the under-20s and not yet ready for the first team so we have gone for the loan option.”
Wright is certainly no fan of the SPFL Under-20 League, with the Northern Irishman arguing that there was no place in it for someone like Kane.
“As for the 20s league, well we need a rethink on that,” he said.
“It is not helping the younger players and a lot of clubs play under-18 lads and for the ones like Chris who are a little bit older it is not a test of them.
“For example, we played Dundee United the other week and we had quite a strong 20s team out, while their team was made up mostly of 17-year-olds.
“So most clubs are sending their up-and-coming players out on loan because they know the standard of the under-20 league isn’t good enough.
“You will struggle to find a manager in the Premiership who is in favour of it, wWhereas in the Championship, League One or League Two, what you get is competition.
“There are seasoned professionals in there and you are actually playing for something.”
Wright was back behind his desk on Thursday and reflected on Wednesday’s 4-0 loss to Motherwell before quickly looking ahead to Saturday’ clash in Dingwall.
“We could have lost the game 6-0 or won it 5-4,” he said of the Fir Park clash.
“Motherwell were excellent but, maybe because of the Dundee United win, we tried to press high up the pitch.
“I will take responsibility for doing that and maybe we could have been more defensive.
“I think I have maybe encouraged them to play too much and maybe we have to be a bit more rigid and harder to defeat.
“But when you do so well like we did against United, you are looking to carry on like that.
“It didn’t really work for us, even though we played some decent football and created chances against a good side.”
Meanwhile, season ticket holders can buy tickets for the League Cup semi-final against Aberdeen from today.
The tickets are priced £20 for adults, £10 for under-16s and £5 for under-12s.
Saints have been allocated the Roseburn Stand at Tynecastle for the match on February 1, with an initial allocation of 3,300.
The stadium office will be open from 9.30am to 5pm and from 10 am to 1pm tomorrow or fans can call 01738 455000.
Monday is another season ticket holder only day before the general sale starts on Tuesday.