St Johnstone’s 16th top flight season in a row gets underway on live TV, when Aberdeen visit McDiarmid Park on Monday night.
It will be a celebratory occasion – before kick-off, at least – as the club and its supporters pay tribute to former chairman and owner, Geoff Brown, who will officially have the Main Stand named after him.
The change of ownership provides a fascinating backdrop to this league campaign and also adds to a feeling of Saints going into uncharted waters.
We don’t yet know if Adam Webb and the minority shareholders in ‘Saints in America’, who are now in charge of running of St Johnstone, will further increase Craig Levein’s transfer budget before the window shuts.
We also don’t yet know how Webb et al will react to a run of bad results.
Although it’s likely to be a case of McDiarmid evolution rather than revolution, how quickly and deeply can Webb make his mark?
And will it be for better or worse?
All big imponderables.
The largest and most significant of them, however, is the pedigree and quality of the signings yet to be made.
Saints need a new goalkeeper, central midfielder and winger.
I’d be more confident making a prediction about the season ahead when I see the standard of the footballers who end up filling those vacancies.
Saints are a far stronger-looking team going into the start of this league campaign than they were the last.
Yet there is scope for optimism to markedly wax or wane over the next few weeks.
But where would the fun be in waiting until September to make a few predictions?
It was a mixed bag I came up with 12 months ago, to say the least.
Finishing position – ninth; top scorer – Luke Jephcott; top assister – Graham Carey; player of the year – Dimitar Mitov; young player of the year – Sam McClelland; breakthrough player on loan – Ben McCrystal.
Two out of six leaves plenty of room for improvement, let’s just say.
We go again……
Finishing position – 10th
Saints will likely have to be better than both Ross County and Motherwell to hit that mark.
Dundee United’s opening day derby draw showcased more good than bad and they look like a team with goals in it, while the only way St Mirren will be in the equation is if Stephen Robinson is head-hunted mid-season.
Dundee have depth of numbers and quality, which should mean they finish top of the Tayside trio.
You can forget about Hearts, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Hibs. At least one (probably Hibs) will under-perform in relation to their recruitment budgets but not to the extent that they’ll be anything worse than mid-table.
I’ve been less impressed with County’s transfer business this summer than I was the previous one so I think Don Cowie’s men will be beneath Levein’s team and go straight down.
I put Motherwell into the same category as Saints – if they make three good signings before the window shuts they might not even be in the relegation battle.
Top scorer – Benji Kimpioka
I’m counting League Cup goals so he’s off to a flying start!
Few would have predicted at the end of last season that Kimpioka would go into day one of the next as the main man ahead of Adama Sidibeh.
Both are likely to face Aberdeen and, if The Gambia international gets back to full fitness and doesn’t let his head be affected by all the summer transfer speculation (a big if), this is the most open and interesting battle to be leading St Johnstone scorer in many a year.
If Nicky Clark plays anywhere close to 30 games (an even bigger if) he’ll be in with a shout too.
Uche Ikpeazu will be a facilitator rather than a regular finisher, while Makenzie Kirk will likely chip in with a few off the bench.
But Kimpioka is scoring different types of goals and will make sure there’s at least one St Johnstone centre-forward who reaches double figures.
Top assister – Graham Carey
The full-backs, David Keltjens and Andre Raymond, will be in the mix here.
The quality of their crosses has been one of the most encouraging aspects of the July cup programme.
Ikpeazu, as mentioned above, should have a few flick-on assists to his name, while Drey Wright is another contender.
But Carey remains the classiest operator with a dead ball and when whipping in crosses from all sorts of angles.
Player of the year – Kyle Cameron
Let’s hope there will be a few possibilities come May, preferably outfield ones.
Your goalkeeper cleaning up on awards night is never great when you’re looking back on a season.
Cameron is a born leader, who plays with passion, wins his headers and is decent on the ball.
He’s also got a thunderous shot on him.
Ideally, a club captain wouldn’t be a loan player, but the 27-year-old ticks all the fans’ favourite boxes.
Young player of the year – Aaron Essel
Kirk has the potential to claim this title, as does Fran Franczak if he’s not loaned out, but I suspect Essel will get far more game-time than the other two.
The 18-year-old needs to learn an important red card lesson from the one he got against Alloa and the one he was lucky to avoid against Brechin.
Essel has power and football-awareness beyond his years.
I prefer him as a wide centre-half in a three at the moment – to give him the time to fully adjust to the pace of the Scottish game.
But he’s got the physical and technical attributes to become an accomplished Premiership central midfielder and take his career to higher levels.
Breakthrough player on loan – Liam Parker
Taylor Steven and, unexpectedly, Sam McClelland both advanced their careers on the back of loans spells in 2023/24.
Levein will farm out a lot of youngsters over the next few weeks – a couple have gone already.
Parker was a long way short of Saints first team standard when he played in the League Cup last year but looks a far better defender for his time spent with Edinburgh City.
On a shambolic night in Alloa, he alone could hold his head up high.
Parker is tall and left-footed. Getting him bulked up is the next priority.
If he does well in League One or the Championship we could be talking about a genuine Premiership, central defensive option in 12 months’ time.
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