By Graeme Dey

ST JOHNSTONE yesterday completed the signing of former Hibs, Aberdeen and Inverness defender Stuart McCaffrey on a two-year deal.

McCaffrey had spent the closing months of the season on loan from Caley Thistle but a foot problem confined him to making only two appearances for the club.

A longer-term contract had been agreed from the outset, however, and that has now been formalised.

“It’s been a frustrating time for Stuart and myself because he was brought here to play and injury prevented him from doing that,” said boss Derek McInnes.

“But I still think the signing paid dividends in that his arrival at the club made others play better. It’s disappointing only to have had a game-and-a-half out of him so far but he’s worked hard with the physio and is back running now.

“Stuart is a very good user of the ball and he’ll be an asset to us.”

Saints hope to learn in the next 48 hours whether midfielder Paul Sheerin is to extend his stay at Perth.

Sheerin has been offered a new deal that would see him double-up with a coaching role.

“We’ve offered Paul a further year during which he would also work as a youth coach,” said McInnes.

“He’s been taking the under 19s since I became manager and has a good way with kids.

“The idea would be for him to combine playing with overseeing our under 17s next season.”

Saints striker Andy Jackson remains in hospital in Stirling as doctors seek a diagnosis of the problem which he suffered during last week’s defeat of Albion.

“It’s a concern that there’s still no sign of Andy being discharged but hopefully they’ll get to the bottom of it in the course of the next couple of days,” said McInnes.

Meanwhile, St Johnstone are putting the finishing touches to their plans for the build-up to next term.

“I want to go away for a week right at the start of pre-season and we’ll be finalising that this week,” continued McInnes.

“The plan is to go down south and concentrate purely on training. There won’t be any games.

“It’s vital to get the work done in pre-season and I have a lot of boys who travel from Edinburgh and Glasgow.

“Rather than have them spending three hours a day travelling in a car, we’ll get away so we can focus all our time and energy on training, putting in three sessions a day.

“We’ll have them in here for a couple of days then—if things work out—we’ll be off to Wolverhampton University where I trained when I was at West Brom before they got their own training facilities.

“And we’ve got the use of a pitch at West Brom’s training ground which has since been built adjacent to the university.

“We don’t want to leave anything to chance as far as preparations are concerned,” he continued.

“The last three seasons St Johnstone haven’t made the best of starts.

“Next year we want to be Hamilton, the team that sets the standard from the off and is up there to be shot at.

“I believe I have the players to handle the pressure of leading. It’s just about ensuring we get there.

“We must start well and I’m setting up pre-season in a way that’ll hopefully ensure we do that and then go on to handle whatever the rest of the campaign brings.”

Once Saints return to Scotland they’ll play closed- door games against Ayr United and Hibs before going public in their preparations for the new season.

Included in the build-up to the 2008-2009 campaign could be a home match—Saints’ only fixture at McDiarmid Park—against Owen Coyle’s Burnley, though that is subject to a date being arranged.