Even with the likes of Chris Kane, James Brown and Callum Booth having left McDiarmid Park on loan in January, Craig Levein would still have the numbers to field a starting XI of players whose contracts or loan deals will be up in the summer.
The Perth boss will soon have as close to a blank canvas as you can get in professional football.
Saints have a big job on their hands to make sure that the close-season squad building is for the Premiership and not the league below, however.
There are plenty of eye-catching potential ‘last hurrah’ storylines that could be written by players whose long-term future is unclear over the next few weeks.
And Courier Sport picks out five of them.
Dan Phillips scores his first goal
The Trinidad and Tobago man has been good for St Johnstone and St Johnstone have been good for him.
Levein has long since resigned himself to the 23-year-old leaving (with his best wishes). A move abroad or back to England is on the cards.
It will be intriguing to see how high Phillips will go in the game.
His skillset is suited to protecting a back four and turning defence into attack but he’s never become the box to box player both Callum Davidson and Steven MacLean thought was possible.
He’s not scored a goal in two years in Scotland and it’s hard to remember him even coming close.
Levein could do with Phillips ending that barren run over the next five games.
The consummate pro keeps a relegation off his record
Andy Considine will forever be known as an Aberdeen great.
The Dons got the best years of a man who won silverware, played over 550 times across 18 years and got capped for his country while at Pittodrie.
Even though he was past his peak when he arrived at McDiarmid, Considine quickly became a key Saints player and has absolutely justified Davidson’s desire to sign him.
Now 37, it’s getting harder and harder to play game after game but you can be assured his commitment and professionalism will never dip whenever Levein selects him.
In their predicament, Saints need leaders and warriors.
Considine is both.
His experience will be in demand this summer – as a player, a coach or both.
And, if he departs Perth, Considine deserves to end this spell as a St Johnstone defender without a relegation on his CV.
Cammy’s call
Levein hasn’t hidden his appreciation of Cammy MacPherson’s talents.
It’s been well documented that the former St Mirren midfielder caught the eye of his new manager on the training ground early in his tenure and he was about to be given his starting chance, only to pick up a serious injury in innocuous circumstances.
MacPherson has suffered terrible misfortune in his time with Saints.
It’s been one injury after another and they haven’t been one or two-weekers either.
But he’s been back on the bench of late and looking good in training.
Given Levein’s previous comments, a contract extension is likelier for MacPherson than some others.
He could certainly help his cause by seizing a chance if it comes his way and finishing the season with a bang as he did by scoring in the play-off final second leg a couple of years ago.
The forgotten man makes himself known again
This season has been a virtual write-off for Crawford.
He played half an hour of Saints’ League Cup opener at Stenhousemuir but that’s been it.
Crawford was loaned out midway through last season and, had the former Hamilton Accies playmaker been fit, you suspect the same would have happened this year.
He’s fit now, though.
And he’s made a couple of benches.
Whether he continues to be included in match-day squads now that Drey Wright and DJ Jaiyesimi are back in contention, remains to be seen.
But, for all that Crawford has never come close to being regarded as a fans’ favourite in the Fair City, he has chipped in with some memorable goals.
He would arguably be the unlikeliest of heroes when you look at the bigger picture of the 32-year-old’s season.
Does he have one last game-defining moment left in him, however?
The hero who writes his own scripts
Stevie May is a St Johnstone legend.
A local boy who came through the academy, produced goal-scoring numbers in the 2013/14 season that blew the minds of supporters and earned him a big money move, dragged his team into a Scottish Cup final, won three trophies, helped turn a play-off final in Saints’ favour and hit double figures in 2022/23.
It’s been one headline after another.
However, he’s not scored in the league this season and hasn’t started a match under Levein in the calendar year.
Even though May has 12 months left on his deal the fact that he was given the option of a January loan, like Chris Kane, points to a conversation with his manager about his future next month.
There really isn’t a ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’ St Johnstone player who can get close to him and, with Levein now regularly sending the 31-year-old on as a late substitute, there’s more than blind faith to suggest he could have one more magic moment left in him.
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