St Johnstone are back in the second tier of Scottish football.
If there were any Saints supporters still in denial after their club’s relegation from the Premiership, the fixture list announcement for the 2025/26 leagues will have sorted that out.
It will be a challenge a generation of fans know nothing about.
A trophy-lift and a swift return to the top-flight is the aim.
Courier Sport picks out five talking points from the fixtures, now that the Perth side have a roadmap laid out in front of them.
The opener
It’s still very early in terms of assessing the strength of other clubs’ playing squads and general fanbase morale.
But, as things stand, Partick Thistle don’t seem to be in a great place.
Their talisman striker, Brian Graham, has left and, if reports are to be believed, he and others turned down the chance to manage the first team in the summer.
As far as the natives are concerned, they appear to be restless.
So (again with the caveat that August 2 is a long way in the distance) a home clash against Thistle is as appealing an opening day fixture as Saints could have been given.
Early momentum
It goes without saying that title challengers need to be strong on their own turf.
Saints didn’t get many wins last season, but they were better at McDiarmid Park than they were on the road.
The fixtures have presented an opportunity to trot out the old “fortress” cliché by the end of August, banish the losing mentality of the season before and ingrain the new mindset Simo Valakari has been talking about since the night they were relegated.
In league isolation, three out of the four August matches taking place at McDiarmid is favourable.
But when you factor in the last two Premier Sports Cup group games are also in Perth, that’s five out of six in all competitions.
There could even be another one if Saints progress to the last 16 of the cup.
County clashes
Regardless of the recruitment still to be completed, St Johnstone won’t start the season as the bookmakers’ title favourites.
Roy MacGregor’s deep pockets will ensure that tag (possibly burden) will be worn by Ross County.
In that context, the head to heads of the two clubs who dropped down a division were always going to be a story within a story.
The four fixtures aren’t particularly newsworthy on the face of it, though.
A trip to Dingwall in the second fixture has the potential to be an agenda-setter for both sides but it’s far too early in the campaign to talk it up beyond that.
And there will be seven games to go after they meet for the fourth time, so that last one won’t be a title decider.
Nostalgia
Saints fans will have spotted a double dose of historic significance in the fixture list.
The 1990 First Division championship was secured at Somerset Park and that’s where the present-day team will be heading on the final Friday night of the season.
Eyes will also have been drawn to a spring home meeting with Airdrie.
It would be too much to expect a sequel to McDiarmid Park’s greatest-ever game, but the performance and result Alex Totten’s team produced on that unforgettable afternoon should serve as inspiration for what will be needed this time around.
The run-in
There’s no split in the Championship, but the last five games are likely to be just as important as they are in the bottom six of the top-flight, maybe even more so.
Saints have Arbroath (A), Airdrie (H), Dunfermline (A), Raith (H) and Ayr (A).
Ross County are faced with Airdrie (H), Queen’s Park (A), Ayr (H), Morton (H), Raith (A).
If it is going to be a head-to-head between these two sides (which I don’t think it will) you would have to say the Staggies have a more appealing run-in.
Saints will have a daunting task if they are the chasers at the start of April.
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