Alan Mannus has lost the man he regards as the best goalkeeping coach he has worked with.
But he believes Paul Mathers is the perfect replacement.
After Steve Banks took up a post with Blackpool, St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright head-hunted Rangers coach Mathers as his successor.
And, as a former international keeper, Wright should be a good judge for the specialised position.
Mannus, who was called up to the Northern Ireland squad yesterday for the crunch Euro qualifiers against the Faroe Islands and Hungary, said: “The gaffer knows what he’s looking for and I’m sure we’ve got the right man.
“I was gutted Banksy was leaving from a personal point of view but it’s great we’ve got someone like Paul to come in and replace him.
“Paul played for Linfield for a season when I was 16 or 17. I can remember seeing him play for the first team. I never really got to meet him at that time because he was only flown over for the games.
“That was a long time ago obviously. Then when I came across here he was at St Mirren. He congratulated me and we had a quick chat.
“The fact he’s involved in the SFA shows he’s well respected. I’ve heard he’s a good coach and I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Mannus had mixed emotions about the Banks departure.
He explained: “I’m delighted for him that he’s got a move down to England. I know that was something he’d always wanted to do in his coaching career.
“He’ll do a good job.
“He’s helped me a lot. He’s been here for two years and is as good a keeper coach as I’ve been involved with.
“Because I’m an older keeper and he’s a younger coach we were quite close. We roomed together on trips and stuff like that.
“In the time he was here we kept a lot of clean sheets.
“But it’s not just me. You have to look at how the younger keepers have developed in his time here.
“Zander (Clark) is the best example. I know a big part of his development is playing first team games for Queen of the South, but his coaching here has helped as well.
“Mark Hurst was brought in and developed by Banksy and is doing well at Elgin now. Jordan Miller is on loan at Montrose and young Ben Mckenzie hasn’t had any training before but has taken to it really well.
“Banksy was responsible for all of that.
“He always had the future in mind. Can the next keepers push on and eventually get sold? If outfield coaches can do that with people like Stevie May there’s no reason why goalkeeper coaches can’t as well.”
Saints have been leaking goals at the start of this season, something Mannus hadn’t been used to for a while.
“I’ve been busier at the start of the season than normal,” the Northern Irishman admitted.
“Teams have had more opportunities against us than they normally would have, and that shows with the number of goals scored against us.
“As all players will say, the main thing is the result at the end of the game and I’m glad we got that win on Saturday.
“It’s good we’re scoring goals and we’re getting opportunities to win.”
You would expect him to be busy on Saturday as well.
“I like playing at Celtic Park,” he said. “We’ve done well there.
“Last time we won, of course. It was a busy night but you expect that.
“It can be a bit of a strange atmosphere if they’re not doing well. But it’s the opposite if they’re scoring goals.
“Hopefully it will either be quiet, or loud because their crowd is getting on their backs.
“Any sort of result would be another big stepping stone for our season.”