St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has noticed that there’s a bit of money starting to slosh around Scottish football again.
And with Premiership rivals upping the ante in the transfer market this summer, keeping up with bigger spenders will make the new season an even tougher proposition than the previous campaign, according to the Perth boss.
But, no matter how large the budgets are at some other clubs, Wright still believes the challenge his own side will face in overcoming that is an achievable one.
He said: “We have had four great years and it gets harder every year.
“We don’t spend much and when you look at it, it’s been a busy summer at a few of the other clubs.
“Teams are starting to spend money again and even paying fees these days.
“That wasn’t happening a couple of years ago and there’s no doubt a lot of the clubs have had a bit of investment in them.
“I think the relegation play-off has encouraged more chairmen to spend a bit of money.
“They’ve seen Hibs be sucked into that and go down so they don’t want that to happen to their club.
“But while money helps it doesn’t guarantee you anything because in the past clubs like Inverness and ourselves have performed better at times than some of the bigger ones.
“It’s not the total answer for me, getting the best out of the players you have is an important thing.
It isn’t as if Wright is casting an envious eye elsewhere, as he’s happy with the transfer business Saints have conducted.
He pointed out: “I think the league will be more competitive this season than in the last four years.
“Our first aim is to be secure in the league and I’ve seen people tip us for the top six again this season.
“We’d love to get in there again but we know how difficult it’s going to be.
“I am happy with the squad I have and what we’ll try to do again is maximise what we get out of the players we’ve got.
“Last season we didn’t score enough goals but defensively we were good.
“We were written off as relegation candidates at one stage but got ourselves on a run of one defeat in twelve.
“We know this season will be tough again but the challenge is for us to try to keep up with some of the other clubs.
“This team has been built on getting the best out of what we’ve got and this year we’ll have another go at it.”
Saints will join a cast of thousands who have given Hearts a guard of honour before Sunday’s league kick-off.
“We will give Hearts the guard of honour while they raise the flag,” Wright said.
“That won’t affect us. We are focused fully on the game.
“They will be celebrating their achievement from last season and the atmosphere should be great.
“But we want to get our season off to a good start and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.”
The injury news at McDiarmid gets more encouraging with every passing day.
“Simon Lappin is back training so if he comes through okay he’ll be in the squad for Sunday,” Wright reported.
“He’s trained really well.
“Frazer Wright and David Wotherspoon haven’t had a reaction to coming back either.
“So considering the position we were in a few weeks ago, things are looking up.
“We still have Murray Davidson and Dave Mackay out, while Liam Caddis is missing as well, but we’re looking in decent shape.”