St Johnstone, founded in 1884, remain one of Scottish football’s more durable provincial clubs, based at McDiarmid Park and accustomed to making their case without much noise. Their modern high point remains the 2020/21 cup double, when they won both the Scottish Cup and League Cup – honours that account for two Scottish Cups and one League Cup in total.
The current squad is a sizeable one, with 31 players and an average age of 24. Transfermarkt puts its market value at around £4m, which gives a fair sense of the scale: not lavish, but not bare-bones either.
Seven rounds into the 2026-27 Premiership season, St Johnstone sit sixth with eight points. Their recent run has been mixed rather than alarming: a 1-1 draw with Falkirk followed a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Celtic, while a 2-1 win over Hibernian showed they are capable of taking points from awkward fixtures.
Their home form carries more threat than their away work, with an average of 1.8 goals scored at McDiarmid Park compared with 0.7 on the road. Josh Fowler has set the early pace with four goals, with Kai Fotheringham, Jamie Gullan and Ruari Paton each contributing two.
For Celtic supporters, St Johnstone are a familiar Premiership opponent with enough structure and recent pedigree to be treated seriously. At this stage of the season, they look settled in mid-table contention rather than defined by either comfort or crisis.
📈 Key stats and insights
⚔️ How they compare to Celtic
Against Celtic, St Johnstone are a different proposition at home but clearly behind over the full metrics: Celtic lead the league with superior attack and defence both home and away, while St Johnstone rely on strong home scoring to compete; Celtic have the edge in consistency and defensive solidity whereas St Johnstone's threat is concentrated in home fixtures.
