Former St Johnstone defender Allan Preston feels there was an inevitability about Craig Levein’s sacking, but is surprised it has happened so early in the season.
The Perth club’s new owner, American lawyer Adam Webb, has made Levein the first Premiership managerial casualty of the campaign after four defeats in the opening five league matches.
“I’m disappointed for Craig. He kept them up and did a reasonable job last season,” Preston told BBC Scotland’s The Nine.
“This season was always going to be difficult. The new owner has come in and has his own ideas. An inevitable parting of the ways was going to come eventually. I didn’t quite see it as quickly as this.
“If that was the case [Webb wanted his own man in], why didn’t they do it in the window? They could have given a new manager time to assess the squad and bring in his own players. A new manager now is going to have to inherit Craig’s players, good, bad or indifferent, and get on with that.”
Preston expects Webb to tap into the knowledge of the existing staff at the club in his search for a new manager.
“I think he’s going to lean heavily on the likes of Roddy Grant and Gus MacPherson because they know the club and Scottish football well,” he added.
“While Adam Webb has a stake in Cambridge in England, he doesn’t know the Scottish game as much. A foreign coach may be a route he goes down, but we’ve got some good managers here in Scotland.
“Scott Brown is doing a great job at Ayr and would be high up [the list] I’d imagine. Peter Leven has been quoted at Raith Rovers, where Ian Murray has just lost his job.
“And the name that always comes up is cup-winning manager Tommy Wright. I’m sure a lot of St Johnstone fans would welcome Tommy back.
“There will be a lot of good candidates and it’s a wonderful club. Yes, they’ve got new owners and no longer the best chairman in Scottish football history, Geoff Brown, but Adam Webb will make his own stance and hopefully they can get out of the mess they’re in.”