THE APPOINTMENT of a new St Johnstone manager does not appear to be imminent, as chairman Geoff Brown is still in the process of sifting through the applications for the McDiarmid Park job.

Brown is happy to take his time identifying the right man to replace John Connolly from the 35 people who have now thrown their hat into the ring.

He said yesterday, “From that list a number of the candidates can be described as very good. We will go through them thoroughly and make sure we get the right man for St Johnstone.

“There is no need to panic and rush into appointing someone. We will take our time and see what develops.”

Among the applicants have been what Brown described as “big names” from England, but with contacts in the Scottish game viewed as one of the most important boxes the new man needs to tick, they are unlikely to be successful.

Meanwhile, Saints’ Paul Bernard, Kevin Fotheringham and Kevin Rutkiewicz have been ruled out for the remainder of the season.

Bernard has been plagued by injury and hasn’t played since September.

Fotheringham has been out since January and underwent an operation to his groin yesterday. He is expected to be fit for pre-season training.

Rutkiewicz will be “up and running” by the end of the season, physio Nick Summersgill pointed out, but probably not in time to regain match fitness.

Caretaker manager Jim Weir has praised the performance of recalled midfielder Paul Sheerin in Saturday’s draw with Clyde, which together with Partick Thistle’s defeat to Raith Rovers has all but secured the club’s First Division status.

Weir said, “We brought Sheerin back in and managed to get him on the ball a lot more.

“This season we’ve asked him to play a different role to that he would have been used to at other clubs, where he played further forward supporting the strikers. But in these teams they might have had two defensive midfield players which would have allowed him to do that. Unfortunately we don’t have that.

“We’ve maybe been expecting too much of him. The one thing you can’t fault him for is his work-rate. Paul’s one of the hardest working pros I’ve ever come across.”

Sheerin admitted that his form this season hasn’t been what he would have hoped for.

He said, “Nobody’s been more frustrated than myself that it’s been such a drag of a season. You set yourself standards and I haven’t lived up to them.

“I think everybody involved with the club will be more than happy to get this season done and dusted and look forward to next season.”