New Contracts For Management Duo

This makes sense, as chances are there will be a few clubs sniffing around the pair in the next few months. However, the club has to be extremely careful after giving Tom Hendrie and John Coughlin five year contracts when they won the league in 2000. This led to rather large payouts being paid when they were sacked.

A sensible lenght would be to have the contracts run until 2009, meaning at worst they'd have two attempts at getting us promoted if we are relegated next season. Alternatively, some sort of rolling contract doule be offered, meaning renewels and lengths don't need to be worried about for a time.

If the duo sign up this week, it is expected they will talk with Gilmour over next year's budget. The Saints chairman claims that only Rangers, Celtic, Hibs, Hearts and possibly Aberdeen will have bigger budgets to spend on their playing staff next season.

As well as getting the management tema signed up, there are also several players out of contract. Simon Lappin, David van Zanten, Alan Reid, Mark Corcoran, Kevin McGowne and Mark Reilly are all free agents in the summer, although it is believed that MacPherson wants to keep them all for at least another year.

Story source: The Sun