IT may not be the custom to exchange jerseys at the end of SPFL Premiership matches but some shirt- swopping certainly took place in advance of this afternoon's game.
Liam Craig, the midfielder who joined Hibernian in the summer after five-and-a-half years at St Johnstone, and David Wotherspoon, who moved in the opposite direction, line up against their old clubs for the first time today.
Both hope supporters of their former sides will be in generous mood. "I don't know how the Hibs fans will react to me," Wotherspoon said. "I'd like to think they will be OK because I was there for a long time and I left on good terms.
"It was nice when a few fans got in touch on Twitter to say good luck. Naturally you get one or two negative comments but on the whole they were really nice. I've even had a couple of fans say they'd like me to come back, which was great.
"But I'm a St Johnstone player now. It is the first time I will have played against a former club. It might be a bit unusual but once the game starts I'm sure that won't come into my head."
Craig, for his part, said: "I had a great relationship with the fans in Perth and I am looking forward to going back. Obviously, I still have close friends there in the dressing room and elsewhere at the club.
"It might feel a bit strange going back after five-and-a-half years there. I am looking forward to it but it is all about Hibs now and I think fans realise that."
Wotherspoon hopes St Johnstone can build on their 0-0 draw at Aberdeen in their last match before the international break, having lost 4-0 to Dundee United at Tannadice the previous weekend. "The point we got at Aberdeen was a good one and when we looked back at the United game it wasn't as bad as we thought despite the scoreline," he said. "The team have a good home record in Perth over the last year or so and we want to keep that going."
Wotherspoon starred for the Perth outfit, his home-town club, in their Europa League qualifiers against Rosenborg and Minsk and has quickly become a key part of Wright's team.
"I've been delighted with the start I've made at McDiarmid," he said. "Everything has been very positive. I've been playing regularly and the team have won some games but we feel we have more to give and will keep improving in the weeks ahead."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article