THE one thing worth clearing up about Steve Brown is how delighted the St Johnstone chairman is that his club has today landed him in Grodno, an obscure town near the borders of Belarus, Poland and Lithuania.

Brown is there because the Perth side are in the third qualifying round of the Europa League, one round further than most people expected. His pleasure about that needs to be emphasised because, well, at times he has given out mixed messages.

Brown has been a St Johnstone fan all his life but he is also nudging close to his second anniversary as chairman. Running the club the way he does, as the tightest of tight ships, means that even success comes with a bill. Finishing third in the Scottish Premier League in May meant qualification for the Europa League for the second consecutive season. Players, management, staff and supporters were jubilant, and so was Brown, but he also knew what was coming. When he was interviewed live on Radio Scotland on the final day of last season, just after European football had been secured, he was sober about the costs it would incur. "I came across to a lot of the supporters as really negative," he recalls. "They're going 'bloody hell we've qualified for Europe and you're all doom and gloom'.

"I don't think if you qualify for Europe you should be worrying about finances, but I do. I'm a businessman. Instead of spending all your time celebrating getting through, and enjoying your experience, you have one eye on the pennies and where they're going. If you're a small club it's difficult in the early rounds. But it's a great complaint to have."

His complaint is that the cost of travelling to many countries in July and August – chartering a plane and crew, booking hotels during the peak holiday period, assorted other liabilities – is difficult to recoup. St Johnstone chartered a 180-seater flight to travel to Turkey to face Eskisehirspor last season, an outlay heavily subsidised by selling travel packages to supporters. When they went to Norway this term, they could take only a 110-seater plane, which slashed the potential income from fans. The plane they took to Grodno for tonight's first leg against FC Minsk was only a 45-seater and was initially considered unable to make the trip without a service stop in Hanover. Thankfully the need was averted. "Stopping means paying airport tax," Brown said. "It's only a propellor plane, they must stop it to wind up the elastic band again . . ."

Grodno is 160 miles and nearly four hours' drive from Minsk, where redevelopment work at Belarus's national stadium means FC Minsk have to decant for Europa League fixtures. Because St Johnstone could confirm the Belarus trip only last Thursday, after they'd beaten Rosenborg 2-1 on aggregate, they struggled to meet the five-day procedure to secure Belarusian visas and Brown had to pay £10,000 to get the process fast-tracked. There was more expense when they had to pay for little Grodno Airport to be opened outwith its regular hours, in order for the wee propeller plane to leave after tonight's match.

The money Uefa distributes to clubs in the second qualifying round will reach St Johnstone around the middle of September, and the money for this round will arrive later still. Only by getting past FC Minsk could Brown contemplate some serious income. St Johnstone could draw a significant name in the play-off round or, better still, make it to the group stage with its guaranteed £1.1m plus gate receipts.

It had been many a year since McDiarmid Park drew as many home fans as turned up last week for Rosenborg. The crowd was 7850 and the racket they made belied the town's reputation for sleepiness about its club. "Perth can sometimes be a bit nonchalant about football and the interest can be poor," said Brown. "The encouraging thing last week was that all ages were there. The great thing is that Rosenborg is now a memory that won't be eroded.

"Our season-ticket sales are slightly up on last season but then I'd expect that, after finishing third. Unfortunately we've not had a lot of success in 129 years so you could hardly call our fans glory hunters. We've got buses and buses and buses leaving to go and watch the Old Firm. I think from 40,000-odd people who live around Perth our support is not too bad. We always seem to get a caning for having the smallest crowds in the league but you have to look at our population base. And we're honest with our numbers, we don't muck our numbers about . . ."

There was some familiar Brown mischief in that remark, familiar because it was exactly the sort of line his dad would have used. It alluded to the story that Celtic and Rangers had manipulated their attendances figures last season by claiming bigger numbers in public than the true ones they disclosed to the police. Geoff Brown used to delight in delivering a bloody nose to the Old Firm now and again.

Geoff celebrated his 70th birthday on Monday. He became chairman in 1986, saved the club, modernised it, and moved it into McDiarmid Park which, incredibly, will be 25 years old next year. In 2011 he handed control to Steve, one of his three sons. He still comes to games but keeps himself in the background. "He has been more than happy to stay out of it. He's got that freedom now. I see a massive difference in him, he's more relaxed and mellow. He comes in for a home game about 10 to three, comes in for a bit of craic, winds-up the opposition directors, watches the game then waits until the car park's cleared and he heads home. He doesn't miss the hassle."

When it comes to running a club, it's been like father, like son, for St Johnstone. The Brown modus operandi is strict financial discipline and keeping the club out of debt. Tommy Wright will adhere to that in the knowledge he follows a trio of predecessors – Owen Coyle, Derek McInnes and Steve Lomas – who were all head-hunted by wealthier clubs. "We've had good managers and lost them," Brown said. "You get a decent manager, things are going swimmingly, and someone comes in and pinches him away. So you've got to start all over again.

"But it's about the players, too. Take Derek: he didn't just look at the talent of the players, he looked off the field as well. He'd find out if a target was a bevvy merchant, or away from the wife, or a bad egg. He never took anyone in that the club had to worry about. I know Hibs put up with Leigh Griffiths and he scored a lot of goals but I just wouldn't tolerate that [off-field controversies]. We've got enough things to do without that.

"I don't think we've had the credit we deserve. People think it's been a flash in the pan for St Johnstone. Apart from being unfashionable, I don't think we look for anything. We go about things quietly. A lot of people here are level-headed, down-to-earth. If we get plaudits, fantastic. If we don't, it doesn't make any difference. We'll still go about our business the same way."