TOMMY WRIGHT has expressed his delight at securing Liam Craig on a new two-year deal to cap a productive period of contract renewals for the St Johnstone manager.
Craig, who celebrated his 200th appearance for the club with a brace in the 2-1 win over Motherwell before the international break, is the latest in a string of sign new contracts under Wright.
Steve Brown, the chief executive, has already sanctioned extensions for Steven MacLean, Joe Shaughnessy, Richard Foster, Brian Easton, David Wotherspoon and Zander Clark.
Wright said: “Liam has signed a new two-year deal and we’re delighted because he’s a vital member of the squad.
“He can play in a number of positions and always chips in with goals throughout the season. So things are really taking shape now. We’ve got the majority of the team signed up for next year and that continuity is important.
“I’ll still be looking for two or three new players in the summer but we’ve done the hard work in getting the players we have signed up again. The chairman sees the value of stability and long-term planning. But while we’ve got a lot of our work done the summer is still going to be very important because with Hibs looking like they’re coming up things will get even tougher again next season.”
The 30-year-old Craig returned to Perth in 2015 after a two-year spell at Hibernian.
Wright said: “I didn’t have any qualms about bringing Liam back. It didn’t bother me that he’d left for Hibs because he handled the whole thing well. There’s no doubt Hibs are a bigger club so at that time nobody could blame him for taking that opportunity.
“It didn’t work out the way he would have hoped but to me it was a no-brainer to bring him back when he was available again. Life it too short to look at things like that. Liam is a quality player and it was a massive thing for us to get him back here.”
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