St Johnstone are set to make summer signing number four.
And, like signings number one, two and three, Reghan Tumilty is a player with course and distance experience of the Scottish Championship.
The former Falkirk, Morton, Raith Rovers and Hamilton Accies defender has been identified by Simo Valakari as the man to fill the right-back void at McDiarmid Park.
Courier Sport looks back on the 28-year-old’s career so far to understand the rationale for Valakari adding Tumilty to his promotion-seeking squad.
Tannadice beginnings
Tumilty got three years of academy football under his belt with Dundee United.
Between 2013 and 2016 his peers were the likes of Harry Souttar, Ali Coote, Logan Chalmers, Jamie Robson and Louis Appere.
The young Tangerines progressed to the Scottish Youth Cup semi-final in the last of his seasons, with Tumilty scoring one of the goals in their quarter-final victory over Ayr United.
First trophy and a week in the sun
When Tumilty moved to Ross County, he still had another year of youth football left in him.
And he was part of an historic triumph.
County won the SPFL Development League in 2017, narrowly finishing just above Celtic and Hamilton Accies.
A mark of the significance of the achievement was the fact club owner, Roy MacGregor, paid for an all-expenses trip to Majorca for the boys.
In an interview a few years later, Tumilty reflected: “Was it my best moment so far? Well, it was when the chairman sent us to Magaluf for free!”
Top team breakthrough
By this point, Tumilty had already dipped his toe in the water of men’s football.
His first appearance for the senior County team was off the bench, ironically against United, when the Staggies thrashed their opponents 6-2 in the Scottish Cup.
Tumilty’s first league start came against Celtic, when he helped his team to a 2-2 draw and did an impressive job against Kieran Tierney and James Forrest.
Kicking on with Falkirk
Tumilty’s career picked up proper momentum when he was loaned to Falkirk.
He played 20 times in the Championship and Scottish Cup for the Bairns and United continued to be a significant team in his career story when he scored a goal in an even bigger win (this time 6-1).
Falkirk manager, Paul Hartley described Tumilty as “different class.”
Loan crossroads
That Tumilty, signed by Ray McKinnon, then performed consistently well for Morton the following season, came as no shock.
The same couldn’t be said of David Hopkin’s decision to send him on loan to Dumbarton for the first half of the 2019-2020 campaign after he took over at Cappielow.
“It’s not April 1 yet guys” was one of the politer posts from Morton fans on social media after the news was announced.
That Tumilty took the challenge in the right manner spoke positively of his character.
Dumbarton boss, Jim Duffy, knew a January recall was inevitable.
“He scored a couple of wonder goals for us, gave us great energy and was a joy to work with,” said Duffy.
Tumilty got back in the Morton team before Covid-19 ended the season.
But by this point he was in the sights of Raith Rovers manager, John McGlynn, who revealed that it was his performances for Dumbarton that stuck in his mind.
Attracting attention
Tumilty will hope there are greater career highs to come with Saints but, up to this point, you would say that the peak came with Raith.
He was an outstanding right-back for two seasons and by the time his contract ran out in May 2022, he was being scouted by several clubs in the English lower leagues and the Scottish Premiership, St Johnstone among them.
Having worked with Hartley before, Tumilty chose Hartlepool United, who were then in League Two.
“A great character and hungry for success, he can play in multiple positions which gives us great options,” Hartley said of his first outfield signing.
Out of his comfort zone
When Tumilty joined Hartlepool, a video emerged of him talking about Scottish football, with one of the quotes still on his Wikipedia page for posterity.
“It’s almost boring up there, playing the same other nine teams.”
Not the most stable of clubs, to put it mildly, Hartlepool sacked Hartley a few months into the season and by the time the January transfer window opened, Tumilty was allowed to return to Scotland, with Hamilton.
He had played 24 times and scored one goal.
“So, let me address this,” Tumilty said when asked about that quote. “The guy has obviously cut that clip brilliantly.
“But for me, and I think people can understand where I am coming from, if you had a bigger league in Scotland, say 18 teams, I think that is something fans would enjoy.
“I tested myself and I am proud of what I have done down there.
“All I knew was Scottish football, so going down there and seeing different places – I mean the bus journeys weren’t great, sitting on a bus for 10 hours.
“I learned to become more physical in tackling. Down there, everyone is a giant – bigger and faster.
“I have taken lots of little bits from there. It didn’t go the way I wanted it to go but I have learned a lot, and in my life as well.”
Hamilton hero
Tumilty’s football certainly backed up that “learning a lot” theory.
It has been a chaotic couple of years at Hamilton, on and off the pitch.
But Tumilty’s high performance-level has been one constant.
He helped Accies get promoted back to the Championship through the play-offs, scored the winner in the SPFL Trust Trophy final and was then one of the best right-backs in the second tier despite the fact Hamilton were relegated again.
The reaction of Accies fans when it was confirmed Tumilty would be moving on will be reassuring to Saints supporters.
One posted: “How on earth are we going to replace Tumilty. He was one of our most attacking threats you don’t get RBs like Reghan Tumilty. Whatever club gets him will be very lucky to have him.”
Another said: “All the best Reghan, superb player, brilliant memories of you in an Accies shirt.”
What are Saints getting?
When people speak positively about Tumilty it is invariably the attacking aspects of his play that get mentioned.
He’s quick, good with the ball at his feet, creates goals and scores them.
The ‘but’ on occasions has been his defensive work.
Put bluntly, if he had been as consistent going back the way as he has been going forward, he would be above St Johnstone in the food chain.
As much as Valakari has talked up the importance of Saints being far more robust than they were last season, he will also be acutely aware that most weekends in the Championship, they will dominate the ball.
He needs game-changers, and not just in midfield and attack.
Coming from deeper, Tumilty’s runs into the box will be invaluable.
Also, although a wing-back formation isn’t likely to be the head coach’s go-to system, his latest signing will open up possibilities of playing that way.
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