Barry Douglas delivers brutal St Johnstone truth as he warns them 'livelihoods are at stake'

Barry Douglas has warned his St Johnstone team mates they need to realise livelihoods are at stake if they don’t dig themselves out of relegation trouble.

The troubled Perth side fell nine points adrift of second bottom Hearts after losing 3-1 at Rangers on Sunday and have taken just one point from their last seven games. Boss Simon Valakari has admitted their position is catastrophic with Saints’ unbroken 16-year top flight run in serious danger of coming to an end.

And veteran Douglas, who returned from a two-month injury lay-off as a half-time sub at Ibrox, pulled no punches as he told his mates to step up and realise the consequences of not turning their form round soon. Saints get a break from league duty when Motherwell visit in the Scottish Cup on Saturday. And Douglas said: “The challenge is there for us. All the motivation is there when you take a look at the table - it’s livelihoods and that’s the reality of it.

“I think a lot of boys need to realise that. It’s not just about what we do on the pitch; it affects everyone else surrounding the club. There’s still loads to play for. In this league two, three consecutive game changes the outlook of where you are in the table.

“I’ll be amplifying that in the dressing room that it’s one game at a time now - starting in the cup next week. I would hope my experience and leadership would be as valuable as my football ability in the next while.

“Football is results-driven industry and when you don’t win you can criticise tactics, formations, everything. But at the end of the day if you concede the goals that we’ve conceded, if boys are accountable for themselves - not just individually - of course it’s a collective, but there’s a lot of individual errors, decisions that