St Johnstone’s Joe Shaughnessy admits this season’s Premiership will be tougher than ever for Saints – however, he believes the spirit and togetherness at the club means they can triumph once again against the odds.
The sense of anticipation ahead of a new campaign for the Scottish top tier is the highest it has been for several seasons with Celtic strengthening under boss Brendan Rogers while Rangers are back in the big time with marquee signings such as Joey Barton.
Hearts and Aberdeen have also bolstered their squads but as ever, Saints have quietly gone about their business, retaining the majority of last season’s roster while adding others such as Paul Paton, Blair Alston, Keith Watson and Michael Coulson.
And Shaughnessy, who turned 24 on Wednesday, believes that once again Saints’ work ethic will take them far.
When asked if he felt the upcoming season would be a tough one, the Irishman said: “I definitely think so when you look at some of the players who have been signed.
“Teams that were top three last season and now Rangers, are all signing these big names.
“But we have quite a settled squad and the new additions are all fitting in well.
“So I think we will be much the same with a lot of togetherness.
“As long as we continue to work hard for each other, we will be fine.
“Every player knows their job and we realise we have to work for 90-plus minutes every week.
“We are sent out to play a certain way. It is not too complicated but if everyone works for each other, you get the rewards.”
Shaughnessy joined St Johnstone from Aberdeen last summer and he admitted his first season at McDiarmid had exceeded all his expectations.
The defender, who was a fringe player at Pittodrie, had hoped to make 25 appearances for his new team but instead turned out 42 times for Tommy Wright’s side, becoming a fixture at centre-half.
Shaughnessy said: “It went way better than I expected, even getting to play centre-half.
“I came into the team at the start as a right-back and I remember saying to my dad that I would look to get 20-25 games.
“But then I was moved to centre-back and became a regular in the team. I really enjoyed it.
“That’s the most games I have played in a season and I was fairly comfortable with it as I am pretty fit.
“Towards the end of the season, I was maybe becoming a bit tired mentally but it wasn’t too bad.”
Shaughnessy took a well-earned rest this summer to recharge his batteries and he revealed he also travelled to Paris to cheer on Ireland in the Euros.
He said: “I went over to Paris for the Ireland v Sweden game with my younger brother and three mates from back home.
“None of us had tickets so we had to get them on the way over.
“As soon as the draw was made and we knew they were playing in Paris, we wanted to go as we didn’t know when we would get the chance again.
“So we booked the flights and the apartment and then just struggled around trying to find tickets.
“We ended up getting them from a guy down in England through Twitter!
“We were staying right in the centre of Paris. It was pretty mad but good.
“The Ireland and Sweden fans were all mixing together.
“It worked out well and it was a great experience. I’m glad we made the decision to just go for it.”
