Alex Cleland takes caretaker charge of St Johnstone, with sound reason for believing they are no lost cause after sacking Steven MacLean and facing a five-point deficit at the bottom of the table.
Cleland insists he will inform the next manager that sufficient quality exists within the current squad to mount a successful top flight survival bid.
Furthermore, Cleland has previous experience of a similarly sorry opening to a campaign ending in typically steady St Johnstone style.
A comfortable mid-table finish was achieved by the Tommy Wright team he assisted in 2019/20.
Just like this season, Saints exited the League Cup group stage early after losses to lower league opposition.
They then managed only a four-point haul from their first nine fixtures culminating, eerily enough, in defeat to St Mirren in Paisley.
Victory, over Hamilton, in their 10th match marked the turning point for that season.
Kilmarnock are the visitors as Cleland begins his third interim spell in charge.
He said: “We’ve had a few seasons where we’ve started slowly but have managed to get through it. “This season we have to battle our way through it again. We’ve showed in the past it can be done.
“I know the players and there’s enough in that dressing-room to get us out of the predicament we’re in.
“There are plenty of games to go and we can go on a run. It’s not easy to do. You have to win a game to get on it.
“But once you do, you’ll get confidence back and get going. That’s what we have to aim to do.
“You have to stay positive and try to get some momentum because it’s huge in football.
“We’ve been in this league for a long time now and the aim is always to stay in it.
“It hasn’t been a great start, we know that. But there are a lot of games to go and the job of the new manager will be turn that around. “We’re not cut adrift, there’s plenty of points to play for - but we need to start picking up points.”
Cleland took the reins in October 2011 when Derek McInnes left for Bristol City and again in 2020 when Wright called time on his seven-year spell in charge.
Those experiences tell him that brooding over a bombshell departure, such as that of club legends MacLean and Liam Craig on Sunday, will only undermine the chances of revitalising their season.
Addressing the firing of his managerial colleagues, Cleland said: “The players were pretty down about it.
“But they got back out training again and we have to look forward. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves because, if we do that, we won’t win the game.
“We have to be positive - the players, the staff, everyone. We all have to muck in together.
“All I will say to them is what’s happened has happened, but we have more games and must look forward to this one.”
Cleland has no role in the Perth board’s process of recruiting a new permanent appointment.
He does anticipate a departure from recent tradition which saw Tommy Wright, Callum Davidson and then MacLean become bosses after stints as No 2 with the club.
Wright and MacLean were assistant managers stepping up, while long-serving player and coach Davidson was tempted back from Millwall.
Cleland noted: “They might look to go a different way now and get someone who hasn’t been involved with the club before.
“The board have done a good job with appointments in the past and I’m sure they’ll get it right.
“When you appoint from within, you get someone who has worked with the players before and that’s a bonus.
“But someone new has fresh ideas and that might be what it needs. Maybe the board will feel they need a different type of manager now because of where we are in the league, I don’t know.”
Cleland added that he hoped MacLean and Craig would be able to resume promising coaching careers elsewhere.
“Steven was just starting his managerial career so I hope he doesn’t get put off by what’s happened,” he stated. “He’s a great coach with a lot to offer.
“They were two huge characters who had been here so long. It was a very difficult day when we heard the news.”
