St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright insists he has buried the hatchet with Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara.
It has been revealed that the Tannadice gaffer will be able to lead his team out against Saints at the William Hill Scottish Cup final after withdrawing the appeal against his dugout ban, which was punishment for his part in a row during the clubs’ last meeting that also involved Wright.
The Saints boss stressed there are no hard feelings lingering from that episode.
He said: “Jackie and I had a drink afterwards and we met up and had a coffee at the Hibs match recently.
“It’s finished with and you move on. It happened and it’s been dealt with. Life is too short to hold grudges and Jackie has said the same.
“We’ve spoken a lot since I came to Scotland and there’s a lot of respect between the two of us.”
While the cup final is still four weeks away, Saints and United have a “dress rehearsal” tomorrow at McDiarmid in the league.
However, Wright insisted that he has given no thought to possibly protecting key players such as 25-goal striker Stevie May and he will definitely not be fielding a weakened formation.
The manager added: “I’ll be playing my strongest team. We can still get fourth place so that’s what we’re focused on.
“If it was the last game of the season, I’d maybe think differently but it isn’t.
“We owe it to ourselves and for the integrity of the league to play our strongest team.”
Wright is not expecting any surprises from United tomorrow as he knows their side inside out.
However, he insists that no matter what the outcome of the game, it will have no bearing on the cup final.
Wright said: “We have played United three times, we played them four times last season so we know all about each other.”
Lee Croft, who missed the semi against Aberdeen because of a hamstring strain, has responded well to treatment but Wright admitted the winger is unlikely to risked against United.