Danny Swanson is bemused that Tommy Wright continues to be the forgotten man of the football awards season.
But if it means the St Johnstone boss won’t be lured away from Perth, the former Dundee United midfielder is happy for it to continue.
The Saints glory years have passed with barely a manager of the month award and a solitary nomination for manager of the year (though not a win).
Swanson believes that is scant reward for Wright’s achievements at McDiarmid Park.
Not only is he perplexed at the lack of personal recognition for Wright, he’s equally surprised that clubs haven’t been lining up to tempt him to pastures new.
“It’s amazing the manager here rarely gets mentioned for the manager of the year awards,” Swanson said.
“It’s really surprising when you consider the job he’s done.
“With what he’s achieved here over a three-year period, you’d expect him to be tipped for every job going.
“I have no idea why that’s the case.
“You see other people win a few games and they get their names in the frame for jobs.
“But it never happens to him.
“Nobody here can understand it but we’re delighted because we don’t want him to leave.
“He was a big part of me coming back here, I enjoy working with him and he just lets me go and play.
“When he told me he wanted me to come back, I did wonder if he’d still be here because of how good a job he does.
“But he rarely gets linked with anything.
“That’s a good thing for us and hopefully it won’t change because he’s great with the lads.
“He’s tough when he needs to be and he also gets stuck in having a laugh and a joke.
“I’m sure he doesn’t bother about never getting any of the awards.
“Look at Spain, it’s only recently that Lionel Messi won his first Player of the Month award there!
“So you take them with a pinch of salt.
“It’s good for us, don’t tell anyone he’s doing a good job and they might not notice.”
Swanson had to sit out last Friday night’s demolition of Aberdeen but he’ll be back in the squad for the Ross County game this afternoon.
“Sitting watching the boys against Aberdeen, that was us back to what we’re best at,” he said.
“We won every battle on the pitch, showed good quality and probably should have won by more.
“I thought the lads were brilliant and if we can stop losing the silly goals like we’ve been doing this season then we’ll finish the season strongly.
“When we get ahead in a game we’re difficult to break down and usually come out on top.
“But too often we lost the first goal this season, although hopefully we’ve put that to one side now.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries this season, which hasn’t helped, but we’re in fifth place just now and the league doesn’t lie.
“Over the season we’ve done really well and hopefully we can finish strongly.”
He added: “Everyone here just comes in, gets on with things and works hard – that’s why it’s such an honest bunch.
“Training here is really good, the lads are always confident.
“The first few games after I came back were hard because I hadn’t been playing at Hearts but I’m fully up to speed now.
“We know St Johnstone won’t win every game, that’s football, but we’ve got the spirit to win a few.
“The club has overachieved again, which is credit to the manager and the lads because of the budget this club has.”
On his own injury, Swanson said: “I got a dead leg against Dundee United in the last five minutes a few weeks back.
“I didn’t think it was that bad so played against Kilmarnock but was struggling after half-time.
“I had been struggling to walk the day after that and couldn’t even play with the wee one, so went for a scan.
“Thankfully that showed it was just bruising.
“Before I got the scan it crossed my mind that it could keep me out for a while so I was glad that it showed up nothing.
“I have started training again and hopefully I’ll be in the manager’s plans for Ross County now.”
Brian Easton also returns for Saints, but Murray Davidson may miss out.
