Connolly has dual role

New St Johnstone boss John Connolly has pledged to use his business acumen to help the club off the field as well as calling on his coaching ability to gain promotion next season.

The 53-year-old was appointed as successor to Billy Stark, following a week of uncertainty after the ex-Celtic assistant was dismissed for failing to guide the club back into the Bank of Scotland Premier League at the second time of asking.

Connolly was immediately installed as favourite, but had to wait until the weekend to be offered the job by chairman Geoff Brown because his Queen of the South side played host to the Saints on Saturday and it was deemed inappropriate to approach him until the game was out of the way.

He quickly accepted the position, his first full-time post, on Sunday evening and took charge of team affairs for the first time this morning.

The former Saints player, widely regarded as the best St Johnstone forward of all-time, had been in charge at Palmerston for four seasons and combined his role with a successful career in marketing.

“To come here as manager fulfils two of my ambitions because I have always wanted to work with full-time players day-in-day-out and I always hoped that one day I would come back to St Johnstone,” Connolly revealed.