Just like Jose Mourinho, St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright couldn’t care less if people call his team boring.
He doesn’t believe such a description is deserved but, even if he did agree, he wouldn’t give a hoot.
Chelsea boss Mourinho dismissed Arsenal fans’ criticism of his side’s style of play in the London derby on Sunday with one of the quotes of the season.
In a devastating dig at the Gunners’ lack of championship success, he said: “You know, I think boring is 10 years without a title. That’s very boring.”
Wright’s ambition for the season is slightly more modest than the Barclays Premier League that the Stamford Bridge men are about to wrap up.
However, Saints have still followed last season’s Scottish Cup success with a top-six finish in Scotland’s Premiership and they now look favourites to finish fourth.
Indeed, beat Inverness Caley Thistle at home on Saturday and third spot – and a guaranteed Europa League place – becomes a distinct possibility for the Perth club.
All this they have done without getting too many plaudits for their victories.
Even following Saturday’s comfortable win over Dundee, the verdict from Dark Blues’ boss Paul Hartley was that it was “our worst performance of the season, by far.”
Saints, perhaps unsurprisingly for a team that lost star striker Stevie May and his 27 goals in the summer, haven’t been prolific scorers this season.
Indeed, their 31-goal tally only beats that achieved by bottom club St Mirren and maybe that’s a factor in how people view them.
However, only champions-elect Celtic and second-placed Aberdeen can boast better defensive records than St Johnstone.
This campaign has, therefore, been built on a solid foundation and Wright’s quite happy about that.
“It doesn’t bother me at all if people think we’re boring,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s true anyway but people are allowed to think what they want.
“My concern every week is only St Johnstone and getting results.
“I’m sure there are teams around us who would be quite envious of our defensive record.
“There are teams who have conceded 50 goals (he didn’t name them but that’s Dundee United’s total) and if they had not done that they might have been up there challenging Celtic for the league.
“There is no doubt we have not scored as many goals this season but that has been down to not having a regular goalscorer.
“We have been creating chances but we lost our top scorer, Stevie May, from last season.
“We knew this season would be difficult when we lost Stevie but we’ve found a way to win matches without someone banging in 15 to 20 goals.
“We don’t go out to just stop the opposition, though.
“There are two facets to playing the game – when you are in possession and when you are out of possession.
“Thankfully, I have a group of players who know what they are doing and I have been delighted with what they have done this season.
“If it rubs people up the wrong way then so be it but we are here to get results for St Johnstone.
“We’ve said often enough that we don’t get the credit we deserve but the boys here don’t care about that one bit and neither do I.”
Saints have been linked with Cliftonville striker Joe Gormley.
However, Wright said: “Joe is a player I have watched several times this season but he has a year left on his contract and I would imagine Cliftonville are looking for a good fee for him.
“We have no plans to be making any bids.”