St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright admitted he was surprised to see his Motherwell counterpart Stuart McCall call it a day less than 48 hours after the two teams clashed at McDiarmid Park.
The Perth club’s 2-1 comeback victory over the Steelmen on Friday night turned out to be the final straw for McCall, who decided to quit his post at Fir Park over the weekend after almost four years at the helm.
And Saints boss Wright has revealed his emotions were a mix of shock and sympathy after his side’s win over Well which represented a fifth successive loss for the visitors turned out to be the catalyst for McCall’s departure.
“I don’t know him that well but as a player and as a manager he was always one to keep going,” he told Courier Sport.
“And he’s a fighter.
“But you’ve got to respect his decision and he probably feels what’s best for Motherwell and best for Stuart McCall is to call time on it.
“Obviously speaking to him after the game, it’s never nice when your team’s lost but he seemed determined that they were going in the right direction.
“To be fair, I watched them against Aberdeen and they could quite easily have won that game, and I’m sorry to see him go because I think he’s one of the good guys in the game.
“He’s always someone that, win or lose, is good in the manager’s office after the game, so I wish him well and I don’t think anybody can underestimate the job he’s done.
“It’s an incredible job that’s he done and I’m sorry to see him leave the Scottish game.”
McCall has been constrained by tight budgets and the loss of some key players in recent years, yet he still managed to guide the club into regular top six finishes, lengthy cup runs and European competition.
Some might draw parallels between Motherwell and St Johnstone in terms of over-achieving in relation to the budgets at their disposal, and that fact is not lost on Wright.
Wright continued: “He kept losing players and that’s difficult. Players do well and they attract attention.
“We’re probably in a similar position as well.
“I enjoy my job and I know how tough it is.
“I’m sure Stuart’s enjoyed his time at Motherwell but it has been a tough job for him.
“But his CV should stand him in good stead for the future, and maybe you have to be in the Scottish game to realise how well he’s done.
“I’m sure there are people out there who know what he has done and I hope he gets back into work as soon as possible.
“If you look at how high esteem he’s held in, he works with the Scotland squad as well.
“I think everybody in the game is sad to see him go.”
There was a renewed air of optimism about McDiarmid Park after Saints’ Friday night success, and Wright hopes the 2-1 win has laid the groundwork for greater things to come.
“There was a determination to win the game,” he added.
“We knew the game was important, it opens up a bit of a gap between us and the teams below us and it keeps us in touch with the teams ahead of us.
“It also ended a bad run, but I think it finished off a good week for us in terms of performance four points out of six and that’s the way we look at it.
“We had a decent performance at Rangers at well, so hopefully that’s something for us to build on and take into the next game.”
Wright added that midfielder Murray Davidson should return to training later in the week after his eye injury and concussion suffered in the League Cup defeat to Rangers, while David Wotherspoon returned yesterday after his bout of tonsilitis.
Simon Lappin and James McFadden missed training, but both should be available for the trip to Dundee on Saturday.