Craig Levein ready for challenge of leading St Johnstone again next season

Craig Levein declared himself ready for the challenge of leading St Johnstone again next season even though he admits recent uncertainty over which league they would be playing in has left him “miles behind” in terms of squad building.

Saints climbed out of the bottom two to secure their top-flight survival in a dramatic conclusion to the Premiership campaign on Sunday as their 2-1 victory at Motherwell coincided with rivals Ross County being held to a 2-2 draw by 10-man Aberdeen.

Given that the Perth side were five points adrift at the bottom of the league at the end of October, and two points adrift when Levein was appointed in early November after four years out of the game, their survival goes down as a relative success for the 59-year-old former Scotland, Hearts and Leicester boss.

Despite the gruelling, pressured nature of the campaign just finished, Levein – contracted to Saints until the summer of 2026 – is adamant he still has the appetite to come back for more after his summer break.

“Yeah, I’ve loved it, it’s been great,” he said.

“There’s a lot of work to do and it will take a bit of time, but there’s enough encouragement for me from the players we have signed up for next season to look forward to coming back.

“I’ll have a break, a few glasses of wine and be ready to go again.”

Levein admitted last week he had been unable to do much preparation for next season due to the fact his team were in the relegation play-off spot and facing the genuine prospect of dropping into the Championship. He is relieved that he now has clarity and can start building for another crack at Premiership football.

“I can start doing stuff for next season now because so far I’ve not been able to do anything, which has left me a fair bit behind where we would normally be at this time,” he said.

“I’m miles behind. Normally by this stage I’d probably have half a dozen in the bag.

“We need to get our skates on. It’s going to be a difficult recruitment period I think, but at least we’re doing it for playing in the top flight, which is the most important thing.”