Southampton

Sam Foley hopes Vaclav Hladky is a keeper for St Mirren

24-Mar-2020 13:47:10 | Four-Four-Two

St Mirren skipper Sam Foley fears he might not see keeper Vaclav Hladky back in a Saints kit if the coronavirus shutdown continues into the summer.The Czech stopper has been given permission by Buddies boss Jim Goodwin to return home and wait out the pandemic.But with the 29-year-olds contract set to expire in June, midfielder Foley is worried Hladky might not return if domestic action remains on hold.View this post on Instagram+3 last match is the greatest end of the year Btw it had been amazing year in @stmirrenfootballclub - 46 games 13 clean sheets Im so thankful and so proud for this club that gave me the opportunity Happy new year all of you A post shared by Vclav Hladk (@vaclav_hladky) on Dec 30, 2019 at 10:24am PSTHladky has been a vital figure between the posts for Saints and Foley knows his team-mate will not be short on suitors.He told the PA news agency: Obviously the situation is totally unprecedented. We might not be back playing until guys like Vaclav are out of contract which is a worry.Hes had an unbelievable season and he is an unbelievable goalkeeper.Theres no doubt in my mind he will end up playing at a much higher level than the Scottish Premiership. Its only a matter of time.Its not just Vaclav, there are a lot of other guys whose contacts expire and its a shame if we dont get to see them again in a St Mirren kit.We wont get the chance to shake anyones hands and say a proper goodbye this is going to be the end for them at the club.| Vaclav Hladky made this cracking triple save as @saintmirrenfc picked up an important point at Tynecastle!He's the goalkeeper in our #TOTW!Read it https://t.co/dx0XjNW6Xb pic.twitter.com/0DzdXRXQ19 SPFL (@spfl) February 26, 2019Ive relied on Vaclav so much. Ive had to drop into centre-back at times this season, something thats totally alien to me, knowing I have him behind me gives me so much confidence while I try to bluff my way through.Its a tricky one now because what does happen next? No one knows.The whole football industry has frozen the only thing that hasnt is contracts and we dont have much of an idea of whats happening. Its concerning.Foley has headed back to his family home in Crewe to spend the lockdown with his partner Samantha and their two young daughters.The 33-year-old has plenty of time on his hands but that is not a new situation for the former Newport, Yeovil and Port Vale battler as he was released by Northampton last summer.But while he is sure he will have no problem getting back down to business once the virus threat eases, he does worry Saints Ladbrokes Premiership survival fight will suffer a dip if they cannot rediscover the momentum that has recently taken them up to ninth place.View this post on InstagramA post shared by Sam Foley (@samuelfoley) on Mar 12, 2020 at 8:59am PDTHe said: Its strange. It feels like the seasons ended. The suns out, Ive cut the the grass, washed the car and hoovered every carpet in sight.Im running out of things to do.Before I joined St Mirren last summer, I didnt have a club for four weeks of the pre-season and only joined Saints late on.I had been training with my local club Port Vale but I had eight or 10 weeks off so its not a totally alien situation.One were back in with games to prepare for it will be a lot easier to focus the mind.Weve managed to build a bit of momentum since January and results have picked up.We got a massive result against Hearts which was obviously our last game but the worry is it will be hard to reinstall that momentum as it has literally been halted.But there are lots of positives and if we can use this break to get everyone back together and fit then we can hopefully build on the foundations weve put down.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'}); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Andy Newport, PA'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'e676a7af-b6e3-46e3-a536-8eef742eb0e6'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football'); ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Sam Foley hopes Vaclav Hladky is a keeper for St Mirren'});