St Johnstone have been lauded in the past as a model club for the way they go about their business off the park.
They have, however, also attracted comments about how they perform on the pitch.
The latest person to cast aspersions on the McDiarmid Park side’s style of play has been Aberdeen’s Anthony O’Connor.
During an interview that praised the standard of football in Scotland in general, the Dons man singled out Saints thus: “When you come up against St Johnstone it’s a different type of game as it’s more direct and about second balls and stuff like that.”
The clear inference is that the Perth men are somehow different to the others, rather more industrial in their approach.
There are even claims that those wearing St Johnstone shirts have been likened to rugby players by their opponents.
Not only is this tiresome and childish nonsense it is completely unjustified.
Saints are streetwise and know how to win ugly but these are good traits. They are certainly not some kind of modern-day Wimbledon.
They are perfectly capable of producing stylish, fluent and attacking football
Indeed, the goal scored by Danny Swanson against Hearts at Tynecastle in the 2-2 draw on November 5 is probably the most perfectly-created and expertly-executed strike I have seen in person this season.
Maybe Aberdeen’s chronic inability to get the better of Saints was behind this latest load of blethers but it is time to give it a rest.
