Stevie May reveals desire to stay at St Johnstone

ST JOHNSTONE striker Stevie May last night indicated he’s ready to extend his stay in Perth.
Stevie May: Contract extension. Picture: SNSStevie May: Contract extension. Picture: SNS
Stevie May: Contract extension. Picture: SNS

The 27-goal young player of the year wants to cap a dream season by firing Saints to their first ever Scottish Cup win.

The £1 million rated 21-year-old attacker has already attracted interest from England, with Peterborough, Rotherham and Preston all keen, but May revealed he sees his immediate future at McDiarmid Park.

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Manager Tommy Wright took his players to Dunkeld Hilton and limbered up for the clash with Dundee United with clay pigeon shooting. And now his star striker is aiming to gun down their Tayside rivals.

May handed Saints a cup final boost by revealing: “We’ve been speaking to the club and I want to stay here. I’m happy so I want to stay. There’s no reason to want to leave. I’m still developing and can feel myself improving all the time, so this is the best place to do that. We have not spoken about figures yet but that will happen after the cup final. We don’t want any distractions ahead of Saturday’s game so it can wait until that’s over.

“If someone wants to buy me then they’ll do that regardless of my contract so that’s my take on it. This season has been better than anything I could have imagined. At the start I was just hoping to get in the team and score a few goals. If you’d told me at the start I would have scored 27 goals and got to the Scottish Cup final, I would have been delighted with that. It’s beyond anything I could have hoped for at the start.

“It has been great walking round Perth and seeing the displays in the windows. I’ve never seen anything like this in Perth before, the city has really got behind us and we’re going to take a massive crowd to the final. We’re just hoping to do it for the city and give the place something to celebrate.

Boss Wright said: “I met Stevie’s agent last week. Now we’ll have to sit down and talk about the financial part of it now. So it’s not done yet but we’re hopeful it will be.”

May’s team-mate Steven Anderson has added his reasons for wanting to hoist aloft the Scottish Cup on Saturday. He would love to gift his mother her perfect birthday present and also give his Hibs supporting mates something to smile about.

“It would be a big thank you to my mum, Marion, because she will be 50 on Saturday – so it is a special birthday. She will be there cheering us on,” says the St Johnstone defender. “My wife and mum will be making a day of it in the lounge at Celtic Park. My mum just wants me to do well and to win something. I have been here that long and we haven’t won that much, if I am being honest. But if she gets enough champagne she will be delighted.”

The Perth side will be contesting their first ever Scottish Cup final and having come out on top in this season’s head to heads with opponents Dundee United, winning three of the four encounters, the 28-year-old, who spent three years at Tannadice before joining St Johnstone in 2004, says the pressure is on to make the appearance count.

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“We have had a few semi-finals and just not got over the line. We haven’t been good enough or we have just been unlucky on the day, especially when we had Rangers and lost on penalties. The club needs to win because it hasn’t won a major bit of silverware in 130 years and that is disappointing.”

Anderson has never been to a cup final as a fan but has a number of friends who have been forced to endure the agony of the last two Scottish Cup finals.

He said: “Most of my friends are Hibs fans so I like to see them doing well. My friends go to a lot of their games. They have been to a few finals to see Hibs.

“It is a great occasion and I am just delighted I will be involved in it. A few of my pals will be there and hopefully they will be happy at the end of this one.”