ST JOHNSTONE skipper Dave Mackay is set to put pen to paper on a new deal that will keep him at McDiarmid Park until 2014.
That is good news for Saints fans, especially with powerhouse midfielder Murray Davidson, who joined the club from Livingston at the same time as the popular “Cup-tie” in 2009, almost certainly set to leave for England.
Mackay said: “We are pretty close and hopefully we will get the deal done in the next few days.
“I am keen to get it signed as I am enjoying it here and there is no reason to change that. The way Scottish football is just now, it is good to get your future sorted out as soon as possible.
“The grass isn’t always greener elsewhere and this is a good club to be part of so I would like to extend my stay, if possible.
“The club is speaking to loads of players so hopefully we can get some of the ones who are out of contract signed up.
“There are plenty whose deals run out at the end of the season so it would be good to get them tied up as soon as possible.
“Teams normally wait until they see whether they are safe from relegation before offering new deals and we seem to be in that position now.
“So it is maybe different from a couple of seasons ago when we were probably unsure until the end of the campaign so it is good that we can get some work done quicker than other teams.”
Mackay returned with the rest of the Saints players to their Stirling University training base yesterday, after enjoying time off for the SPL winter break.
The big defender is hoping that the rest and chance to recharge the batteries will have a similar effect to what happened when he was with Dundee.
He said: “It was good to get a few days off over in New York, enjoy a bit of recovery and look forward to get going again.
“We have about six or seven players carrying wee knocks and injuries so the break has given them a bit of time to recover and hopefully they will be back for the Motherwell game.
“You don’t want the break to be too long, to be honest. You wouldn’t want to come back and have to do a mini pre-season so I think a week off is just fine and then you have another week to build up your fitness and training for the games starting again.
“It is difficult to predict when to have the break with our weather you could end up needing six weeks off.
“When we had a big winter shutdown in the past, I was at Dundee and we went to Trinidad.
“We were lucky enough to stay in a luxury hotel but I think the trip must have been sponsored by KFC and Pizza Hut because that’s all we ate for a week lunch, dinner and pre-match. All this healthy eating’s overrated,” he smiled.
“But the trip must have worked because, when we came back, I think we went about 16 or 17 games unbeaten.
“We had struggled a bit before the break but we returned and I think the first game we had when we came back was a Scottish Cup tie. We won that and ended up going all the way to the final.”
Meanwhile, Saints assistant boss Tommy Wright revealed that defender Steven Anderson went under the knife last week.
He said: “Steven has had a tidy-up cartilage operation during the break and the recovery time is between three and six weeks. We decided to take advantage of the two-week period without a game to get it done.
“He did the initial damage against Aberdeen and, at first, surgery wasn’t thought to be necessary. But he had a wee setback and we sent him for a scan and it was decided to have the operation.
“Ando will make a full recovery and shouldn’t miss too much football. He has also been carrying an ankle knock so the rest will do him good.”
Wright also revealed that striker Craig Beattie, who has hardly kicked a ball for Saints since signing in the summer, has gone out on trial down south.
He added: “Craig’s training for a week at Notts County. They lost striker Lee Hughes to Port Vale and manager Keith Curle asked if he could have a look at Craig. If he had been up here he would have been training by himself rather than getting time off so it will be beneficial whatever happens. So far, there has been no feedback from County.
“A fit Craig Beattie would be a real asset to us if he does come back.”
nrobertson@thecourier.co.uk