Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

St Johnstone starlet Fran Franczak ‘back at it again’ and gets post-split Craig Levein pledge

The 16-year-old is Saints' youngest ever player.

Fran Franczak.
Fran Franczak. Image: SNS.

St Johnstone manager Craig Levein has pledged that McDiarmid Park starlet, Fran Franczak, will have a role to play in the Perth club’s Premiership survival bid.

And the Perth boss revealed that the club’s youngest ever player has shown that he is “back at it again”.

The 16-year-old made his debut in September and has featured on eight occasions for the first team in total.

Fran Franczak slides to make a tackle.
Fran Franczak slides to make a tackle against Hibs. Image: Shutterstock.

There was a two-month spell when Levein decided not to use Franczak from the start or off the bench.

But he has seen the local boy’s energy and enthusiasm rub off on the rest of the Saints squad in recent weeks.

Combined with the quality he’s showing on the training pitch, that will lead to post-split game-time.

Support of senior pros

“Fran has been training well so I’m fairly certain you’ll see him between now and the end of the season,” said Levein.

“We took him out a while back because it was all quite a lot for him.

“With young players, you can see it when they train if they start to level off a little bit.

“I took him out because of that.

“He’s only 16 and when he came into the side he’d just turned 16, so it was a lot to happen in a very short space of time.

“He’s back at it again. He’s got an enthusiasm and youthfulness that is great to have around the place.

Fran Franczak with Andy Considine, one of St Johnstone's senior pros.
Fran Franczak with Andy Considine, one of St Johnstone’s senior pros. Image: SNS.

“The older players tend to look after young lads like him too and I’ve seen them all helping him along every day.

“He was very good when I played him against Hibs here last year and then he went to Ibrox and was different class.

“So I don’t have any concerns about him handling the situation we’re in. He’s got that youthful attitude you like in players coming up.”

Fran Franczak ‘not a normal 16-year-old’

Franczak’s dynamism could be an important weapon for Levein over the next five games.

“I don’t have any worries about his physicality, strength or speed because he’s not like a normal 16-year-old,” he said.

“He’s a tough lad who has dealt with everything we’ve thrown at him so far so no doubt he’ll be part of the team in these last five matches.

“I wouldn’t say he’ll play every game but I do expect him to contribute.

“He’s done well to play the amount of games he has already in the Premiership.

“It’s great for him and great for us looking to the future too.”

Conversation