St Johnstone set to approach clubs for new manager talks as Scott Brown, Peter Leven and Tiernan Lynch in frame

St Johnstone have their shortlist for the manager’s job at McDiarmid Park – and official approaches are likely to be made to speak to several candidates over the next 24 hours.

Courier Sport understands the Perth club are happy with the standard of applications and indications of interest they have received since Craig Levein was sacked a week ago.

And now they will take the recruitment process to the next stage.

Ayr United manager Scott Brown, Aberdeen assistant Peter Leven and Larne boss Tiernan Lynch are all on the McDiarmid Park shortlist as things stand.

Given those three are in jobs – as is a European candidate of interest – owner Adam Webb will need the permission of their current clubs to open talks.

Ayr would undoubtedly put up a fight to keep Brown, who has built a squad likely to challenge for the Championship title and is currently top of the league.

Leven is a key part of Jimmy Thelin’s backroom team but it would be hard to imagine Aberdeen blocking his path if he wanted to speak to Saints.

Larne owner, Kenny Bruce, would be devastated to lose Lynch.

Not only have they won two Northern Irish league titles in a row, they are about to start their first Europa Conference League campaign next week.

Ready for next challenge

Bruce and Lynch have a close owner-manager relationship, having worked together for seven years, but it is understood that the 44-year-old believes he is ready to challenge himself in Scotland or England.

It looks increasingly likely that Webb is set to take Saints in a new direction, with a young manager on the up who buys into the American’s vision, whether that’s one already based in Scotland or with a completely different football background.

Andy Kirk and Alex Cleland are highly likely to be in charge again when Celtic visit McDiarmid Park on Saturday.

But the new man could be in the dugout for a trip to face Rangers the following weekend.