'Peaso' looks back on time at Saints
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'Peaso' looks back on time at Saints

22nd February 2017

Wednesday 22 February 2017

Peter MacDonald, 'Peaso', made over 200 appearances for St. Johnstone during his 10 year stint at the club.

The forward, who played for Saints in both the Premiership and First Division, worked under a variety of managers and with numerous squads during his time at the club.

Now at Clyde in a player-coach role, he retains his admiration for St. Johnstone and spoke to the Saints website about his time in Perth, why he views the club so highly and how his career has progressed since leaving McDiarmid Park.

"I was more than happy to sign on at Saints when I was given the offer," said MacDonald on becoming a St. Johnstone player back in 2001. "I had been at Rangers under Dick Advocat and had actually been offered a new 2 year deal, but I wanted to play first team football and I was given that opportunity at St. Johnstone. There was interest from a number of clubs, including Stoke City. But St. Johnstone confirmed their interest on the Thursday and I had signed on by the Friday. It was important for me at that period of my career to be in a first team environment."

Peter subsequently signed for St. Johnstone, the club paid Rangers £125,000 for his services.

"I didn't really feel pressure from the price tag," he admitted. "I was young and I really just wanted to get my head down and play football, and by doing that reward the club who'd invested in me.

"I made my first appearance as a substitute against Dunfermline and scored against Motherwell shortly after. I had a positive start at the club and getting your first goal as a striker really helps you settle in and feel comfortable."

However, Peaso's positive start was hampered at the beginning of his second season when he suffered his first serious injury in a St. Johnstone shirt.

"It was a difficult time, especially as a young guy," he said.

"I never really had niggling injuries during my time at St. Johnstone, just serious ones which was unfortunate. I had a bad groin injury and then fractured my foot within a period of around two years. The fractured foot was especially bad as the surgery didn't go according to plan and I was out longer than anticipated.

"Despite that, I was offered a new 3 year deal in 2005 which I was delighted to sign. The manager at the time (John Connolly) had spoken to me and said he was going to get a deal sorted as he wanted me to stay. It was a testimint to the club and what they saw in me, that despite the fact I'd been injured for much of the previous couple of years they wanted me to stay."

Peaso went on to play for Saints for another six years, achieving promotion with the club to the Scottish Premiership in 2009 under Derek McInnes. MacDonald credits the now Aberdeen boss as one of the best coaches he's worked with in his career.

"Derek McInnes brought a real professionalism to the club.

"When I wasn't offered a new deal by Derek (at then end of the 2010/2011 season) I accepted it. I loved my time at Saints but times change and football is a business. At the end of the day, Derek wanted to freshen things up, I'd been there for a decade and I accepted that. Ultimately we both wanted what was best for St Johnstone.

"I worked with some fantastic coaches during my time there. John Connolly seemed to get really good performances out of me, despite the fact we struggled in the league. Equally, Owen Coyle did a fantastic job with the club taking us to cup semi-finals and only losing out on promotion on the last day to Gretna. I'd played every game of that season under Owen Coyle so losing out on promotion was difficult to take.

"That's one of the things that's unique about St. Johnstone, they seem to have real ability when it comes to choosing good managers, which is shown by the amount of former managers who have went on to manage elsewhere.

"I loved my time at St. Johnstone. It's a fantastic place to play your football and a real family club, a unique club in that sense. There's a really good atmosphere at the club. Throughout my whole time at the club, the staff and fans were always excellent and each manager was carefully chosen to fit the club's vision."

After leaving St. Johnstone, MacDonald went on to play for Morton, Dundee and is now at Clyde.

"It's pleasing to be playing at 36 and still scoring," Peaso said. "I'm enjoying my coaching role but also still feel good playing.

"I've always said I want to play professionally for as long as possible and then after that hopefully take the step into management."

Interview by Joshua Barrie.

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