Thousands of St Johnstone fans suffered Hampden heartbreak at the weekend, and boss Derek McInnes has now made it his mission to make sure they “fall in love” with the team again.
Yesterday he promised a busy summer of comings and goings in the wake of their Scottish Cup semi-final hammering by Motherwell FC, as he seeks to address the attacking problem that has seen them become the lowest goalscorers in British football.
There are Saints players who have made their last appearance for McInnes, he revealed, and others who will be playing for their futures in the remaining weeks of the season.
He said, “Losing other semi-finals would get close to it, but this is probably my worst experience as a manager. I felt confident going into the game that we could win it.
“We’d worked hard to get to that stage, and to lose in that manner was extremely disappointing we didn’t show enough of our usual qualities. We now have to try and get the supporters to fall in love with us again as a club and get the enthusiasm back in time for the start of next season.
“That will mean the end of the road for a few players here, and we’ll hopefully make a few signings that will get everybody excited here. At the top end of the pitch Motherwell had real inspiration, as do other teams in the top six. We didn’t have that and we’ve not had it for a long time.
“Yes, there have been individual mistakes, but in the main the boys at the back have been excellent for us this season… At the other end we’ve not done enough for a long time. We’ve learned the hard way. Sometimes your achilles heel is exposed at the biggest moment, and on Saturday we didn’t have enough inspiration.
“When you’re playing behind that in midfield and defence it can help your confidence, but it can work the other way as well.”Planning
There are still five SPL fixtures to be completed, but McInnes is already planning for next season.
“It begins today. If there’s one positive to come out of Saturday it’s that we can get on with the job quicker. Some players might not feature again this season.
“Others will be told they’re playing for a contract and some who I think will be here will play a more prominent role, as well as one or two youngsters. We need to show in our last few games like we did in the second half on Saturday that we care.
“For me it will reinvigorate my determination to make sure we are successful. Some people have fallen short and the process of rebuilding begins now. It will be a big summer.
“We don’t take for granted our SPL status and we’ve done well to secure that for another year, but I know the frustration of the supporters because for a lot of reasons this season hasn’t been as enjoyable as last.
“To reignite everybody’s enthusiasm and give some excitement to our supporters we need new players.
“For us to attract a proven goalscorer at this level will be virtually impossible, but what we can do is identify players who can improve and maybe get more players who can improve us in an attacking sense that”s our plan.”