Building a strong St Johnstone squad for the Perth club’s Championship challenge is the focus for Simo Valakari at the moment.
But once he gets his players back for the start of pre-season later this month, building a strong collective mindset will be equally important.
On the night Saints were relegated from the Premiership at Tynecastle, Valakari took the opportunity to stress that next season’s team will need to be able to cope with different demands to the ones they were used to.
The psychology of a promotion bid is night and day compared to fighting to stay up, according to the Finn.
“Mentality is so important,” said Valakari.
“We have to handle what will come for us this season.
“We will need to do the right things to become one of the favourites for the title.
“It’s not just a case of turning up because we are a team who have come down from the Premiership.
“This is the Championship, this is the league we are in, so we have to earn the right to be one of the top teams in it.
“Nobody is going to give us anything, nobody is going to make it easy for us.
“The Championship has a lot of good teams, strong teams who have been there before and are building every season.”
Ross County for company
Saints, of course, weren’t the only ones to be relegated in May.
“Ross County have also come down from the Premiership and will be very strong,” Valakari added.
“So, nobody here will be thinking because we have been in the Premiership for a long time we should be seen as the team most likely to go back up.
“No, we have to earn that and the only way we will do that is by getting things right this summer and when the matches start.
“Earn the right to win games in the league.
“That is the mentality we want, that we go into every game with the proper mentality that allows you to be successful.”
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