St Johnstone will begin their preparations for the Premiership return at Preston.
Perth boss Callum Davidson is giving his players two weeks away from McDiarmid Park during the World Cup break.
And when they reconvene, it will be with a three-day training camp in Lancashire, which will include a closed-doors game against his old club Preston North End, who have former Saints hero, Ali McCann, in their ranks.
“The players will get one week completely off,” Davidson explained.
“Then they’ll have another week when they won’t be in but they’ll have a programme to do to keep them ticking over.
“After that, we’re going down to my old haunt, Preston, for three days.
“Preston have been kind enough to give us training facilities.
“We’ll get a game there and we’ll have others back up the road.
“I think we’re going to play Kilmarnock and there’s a testimonial in Fraserburgh.”
Games, games, games
Match sharpness will be the main focus for Davidson in the three weeks he has to prepare for his team’s next league fixture, a December 17 trip to the Highlands.
“It’s more about games than hard training before we start up again against Ross County,” he said.
“You don’t lose much fitness in 14 days.
“It’s been a busy start to the season – and a busy time in general, since I’ve been at the club – so it’s important everyone gets some time with their families.
“We had the play-off last season and some of the players haven’t had that much of a break.
“It’s being able to mentally switch off as much as anything.
“Hopefully we’ll have everybody back apart from Kano (Chris Kane) – that’s Muzz (Murray Davidson), Cammy (MacPherson) and Callum (Booth).”
Conversation