Richard Foster has followed in the footsteps of a St Johnstone legend.
And the fact that the retiral of Scottish Cup-winning captain Dave Mackay hasn’t affected the Perth side’s fortunes says everything about the job Foster has done in his first few months as a Saints player.
The former Rangers and Aberdeen man, who signed a new two-year deal this week, admitted that he tried not to dwell on the pressure of replacing the now Stirling Albion manager at right-back.
“I knew the quality of Dave Mackay from playing against him over the years,” said Foster.
“I don’t think he ever got the credit he deserved for what he did.
“He is revered here, among the fans and also among the guys who were his team-mates.
“He was the captain and he won a major trophy.
“I didn’t think too much about replacing a club legend when I arrived because I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself.
“I just wanted to come in, be part of the squad and play.
“The lads accepted me straight away and it has worked out well for me.”
Foster certainly isn’t the first senior pro to describe Saints as a “good fit” and he won’t be the last.
“I’m happy to sign on again,” he said. “It’s nice not to be going into the last few months not knowing what’s happening.
“The manager said when I first signed that if I did well he wanted me to stay longer, so he’s been true to his word.
“I have really enjoyed it here. I’d played against the boys enough times to know what they’re all about.
“They are organised, hard-working and understand the basics of the game – that’s what we do really well.
“It has been a good fit for me and I’ve enjoyed it.
“I don’t think the team and the club gets the credit it deserves.
“If you look at the record over the last few season’s its incredible because budget-wise this club is on the par with Partick Thistle, Kilmarnock etc.
“It’s definitely nowhere near Aberdeen or Hearts, so that shows what an achievement it is to be in the top six like we are at the moment.
“I suppose the biggest compliment is there is no fuss about it because people expect this team to be in the top six.
“Looking at it before I came here, when I was at County we used to look at it and think there was one place available in the top six. St Johnstone were one of the teams people expect to be in the top half of the league.
“Inside the dressing-room, standards have been set here by the teams over the last few years and the focus is on maintaining that.
“There are still plenty of the players here who have won the Scottish Cup and been in the top six, so they expect that of themselves.”
Foster added: “The spirit here is a big thing and the atmosphere is great.
“We have our fall-outs and arguments on the pitch and training pitch, but once it’s done that’s it.
“You can say something to each other’s faces here and there are no snide comments behind backs.
“There are no cliques and that’s a good thing, I’ve been involved in that before and it’s not nice.
“Here, if you do something that someone else doesn’t like they’ll tell you straight away. It’s open and it’s honest and that’s the way it’s got to be.”
If St Johnstone can get a better result at Partick Thistle tonight than Hearts manage against Rangers they will move into fourth place on their own.
But there can be no distractions going into a game with a side who have enjoyed more success against Saints in recent times than most.
“It has been two strange games against Partick this season,” Foster said.
“In the first one we dominated and then they probably dominated us in the second one before scoring a late goal.
“They are a good side. They change their formation from time to time and have quality players.
“They keep the ball well so it’s going to be a tough one for us.
“We have managed to get ourselves level with Hearts so we’ll see what happens there.
“The first thing for us, though, is getting into the top six and we could open up a decent gap over Partick if we win.
“But we will have to play better than we did on Saturday because although we won 3-0 I didn’t think we were at our best.
“If we can improve on that and keep another clean sheet then we’ll give ourselves a chance.”
