St Johnstone boss, Simo Valakari, has made a point of not watching the controversial penalty incident at Dens Park that hammered the final nail into their Premiership coffin.
That’s not because he would get too angry or irritated about referee Nick Walsh punishing Antonio Portales for a handball and VAR not intervening to overrule it.
It’s because he doesn’t want to seek excuses and make the Perth side’s relegation from the top-flight anything other than a self-inflicted one.
“Believe it or not, I’ve still not seen the penalty,” said Valakari.
“I don’t even want to see it.
“There is a reason for that.
“I have looked in the mirror about why we haven’t stayed up.
“That’s how I want all my players to feel.
“We can’t go looking for other reasons.
“By the time I heard the result at Dundee, all I knew was that we hadn’t been capable of delivering what we needed to do against Hearts.
“Everything else was out of our hands.
“Maybe one day when I retire, I’ll watch it. But I want this to be my story, my responsibility, my ownership.
“That’s why I’ve not watched it.”
More at stake for Dundee
There’s a case to be made that of the three clubs who could join Saints in the Championship next season – Livingston, Ross County and Dundee – the Dark Blues would be the biggest spenders and therefore the least desirable from a McDiarmid Park point of view.
But that’s not a road Valakari is willing to travel as he seeks to finish the season with a win against Tony Docherty’s side on Sunday.
“It is our job to win football matches,” he said.
“I could not care less about who might be in our league after the play-offs.
“You can’t start guessing and speculating: ‘I don’t want this, or I do want that’.
“The level of the three teams can change before next season starts.
“We just have to concentrate on ourselves.
“As always, I will pick the team that I feel is best for this match.
“We are not taking this game lightly for many reasons.
“Firstly, we have our professional pride. The players want to show everybody that they are hurting.
“Secondly, it’s a local derby and it means a lot for our fans.
“We really need to be up for it.
“I have been talking about the need for a winning culture in the club – that starts now, not next season.
“We can’t pretend that relegation doesn’t affect everybody but if we win this match we can say we did the last job in front of us.”
Monday morning
It will soon be the time for Valakari to speak to his players about next season.
“Everyone will be in on Monday,” he explained. “I’ll discuss things individually, face to face then.
“Then we’ll see where we are.
“I’m clear in my mind.
“That’s how I have always done it.
“The season is not finished. It’s a big, big game on Sunday.”
Conversation