MacPherson accepts that his side cannot hope to challenge for a European place, but does want to see the Buddies make further progress.

He told the Paisley Daily Express: "The teams with the most money and resources to spend on players will be the teams at the top and it doesn't take a mathematician to work out who they are.

"However, there's always a surprise element, as we saw with Motherwell last year. They coped extremely well under difficult circumstances and deserved what they got.

"If you look at the other clubs above us, then hopefully we can get closer to them this season and improve on what we did last year."