St Johnstone midfielder Chris Millar has committed his future to the Perth club by putting pen to paper on a new two-year deal.
The 30-year-old admitted to mulling over a possible move to Australia this time last year but has had no hesitation ahead of this summer’s close season and could now envisage staying at Saints a lot longer.
“I spoke to the club and the two-year contract was the point I wanted to get in there,” he said.
“The club have been good enough to give me that and I’m really happy to be here for another two years. When this finishes I’ll have been here seven years and in modern football you don’t really see that a lot. But the club have been good to me and hopefully I’ve returned some of the faith with what I’ve done on the pitch.
“It’s a difficult time for everybody with the way Scottish football is. It’s pretty precarious out there, you don’t want to be out of contract and I know there are a lot of boys in that situation. So I’m just delighted that I’ve got my future sorted.”
Millar, who joined from Morton in 2008, initially rejected the offer of a two-year deal last summer to consider a possible move Down Under before eventually deciding to stay on at Saints for at least another season.
However, there were no such qualms this time around and Millar hopes he will be the first of several Saints stars to commit their future to the club in the coming weeks.
He added: “Every year I’ve been here we’ve progressed. Obviously there are a few boys out of contract and a few boys moving on, and that was the same last year.
“Hopefully the club can get the boys that are out of contract tied up as well because we’ve got a nucleus of a good squad and hopefully we can add a few fresh faces in the summer.
“We’ve got a good core of solid professionals and we work hard as a team. We’ve got a real good spirit and I’d like to see all of the boys retained here.
“It will just be a case of adding to that and hopefully we can kick on. Wherever we finish this year gives us a starting point for next season so we can say: ‘We want to get there again’.
“There’s no reason why we can’t go and get three wins in the final three games. I think two might be enough to get third spot but if we can get the three wins we ask the questions of Inverness. We’ve got ourselves into a great
position and we want to take advantage.”