ST JOHNSTONE aren't complaining about Europa League action eating into their summer break.
The Perth side already have their eyes on the June 22 draw and assistant manager Callum Davidson yesterday revealed preparations are already at advanced stage.
Saints had to wait for Inverness Caledonian Thistle's Scottish Cup win over Falkirk before securing their fourth successive Euro qualification.
Davidson said: "The lads they won't have lost too much fitness in the space of three weeks.
"So it's most likely going to be five or six hard days then straight into playing games.
"They'll probably be glad, even though their holidays are cut short again.
"We had to make two plans for pre-season and are now using the second one.
"The one thing you have to be careful of is injuries because rest is important, so that's something we've discussed.
"We've had to plan the first few months of the season with that in mind because it's going to be another long one.
"Being in Europe means it's busy from a coaching sense but we'd much rather be playing European games in pre-season rather than friendlies.
"I think that gives you a better preparation, even though it makes the season long, than playing bounce matches.
"Getting into Europe again is a fantastic achievement.
"The lads were fantastic, especially during the last two months of the season.
"People can say we got through by default or whatever but we put ourselves into that position.
"We're just looking forward to the draw and hopefully it will be kind for us in the first round.
"We'd love to get through that and draw a big team because the nights we've had here against the likes of Rosenborg were fantastic.
"We knocked Luzern out last season as well, which was a fantastic night.
"The fans have loved them so we'd love to have another one this time round."
Davidson believes new recruits Brad McKay, from Hearts, and Joe Shaughnessy, from Aberdeen, will relish making their debuts in Europe.
"It will be good for the new players," said Davidson.
"We have signed two young defenders in Brad and Joe and the good thing for me is that they both love defending.
"You see so many players now who are great going forward but can't defend properly.
"The pair of them are good at the defensive side of the game and that's what we're looking for.
"We have a team of players who enjoy defending and that has been a big part of how well we've done in recent seasons.
"They are of a similar ilk to your Frazer Wrights, Steven Andersons and Dave Mackays but a bit younger.
"Striker Graeme Cummins has come in as well. We've watched a bit of him and he's a striker who likes to run in behind.
"He's had a bit of a stop-start few seasons but we believe we can get the best out of him and he's the type of player the club has done well with in the past."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article