Tommy Wright believes there will probably only be one top six place up for grabs for St Johnstone this season.
And he also suspects that the likely contenders for the spot will be busy in the January transfer window.
It has taken a few years, but Wright is now looking at a Premiership table that reflects the financial power in Scottish football.
“Looking at the league you could argue that normal service has resumed because it’s the five big clubs occupying the top five places,” he said.
“Celtic are way ahead in terms of finances, then you have Rangers and Aberdeen in there going for second, with Hibs and Hearts in behind them.
“So it has gone back to what it used to be like. They have all invested in players.
“For me, you probably only have one place in the top six for the rest of us this season.
“There could be an outside chance of two, but at the moment it looks like just being one because I think Hearts and Hibs will both invest again in January.
“This is where we have a decision to make because even though we’ve taken the pressure off a bit with a couple of wins lately, we still need more quality in.
“Whether that happens in January or the end of the season we will see, but we need to help the players who are here and who have done so well for us.”
As far as their top six rivals are concerned, Wright predicted: “Kilmarnock have brought Steve Clarke in so they will probably give him something to spend, Ross County always spend in January and I would expect Motherwell to bring in players as well.
“I think everyone will add players in the next window so we have to make sure we bring in players of quality.
“You can’t replace like for like all the time, you have to try to improve the quality and that’s what we will aim to do.”
Following their win at Ibrox last weekend, Wright is hoping to see another 11-man performance against Hearts on Saturday.
“After losing in the manner we did against Aberdeen it showed a lot of character for the players to bounce back the way they did,” he reflected.
“The quality of the three goals was very pleasing and nobody can say it was a fluke.
“People may focus on Rangers being poor but I would argue that was down to us being good on the day.
“We performed well. It took everyone who was on the pitch to contribute so it was very pleasing.
“We need to keep it going now into the game against Hearts.
“They got a fantastic result against Celtic last weekend so will be full of confidence when they come here.
“But we have won two of the last three and hopefully we can keep it going.”
