St Johnstone gave Rangers three sides of McDiarmid Park for Sunday's draw

St Johnstone have "over-egged" their spending on players and are unable to sustain what is a top-six wage bill, admits chairman Steve Brown.

The Scottish Premiership club have been criticised for giving Old Firm fans three stands at McDiarmid Park.

However, Brown says heavy losses have forced the hand of the Perth outfit.

"We're in danger of being hypocrites because we have been outspoken in living within your means," he told BBC Scotland before the draw with Rangers.

"This year we're not going to do that, which is disappointing to say the least. I think our wage bill is the sixth in the league, which is far too high. We can't sustain that.

"We went for it at the start of the season - we thought we could get into the top six and have a cup run but we just haven't performed and that leaves a huge financial gap and concerns.

"We have got reserves, so unfortunately this year we will be hitting them in a big way and posting heavy losses, which is not good."

St Johnstone's form has picked up in recent weeks, having lost just once in their last seven league games to move them clear of relegation trouble and to within five points of the top six with a game in hand.

In January, manager Tommy Wright was outspoken about a lack of signings and had to quell claims of a "divide" between himself, Brown and new head of football operations Kirsten Robertson.

"I still get on with Tommy. Tommy's Tommy," Brown said. "He just gets frustrated. I spoke to him on the Sunday and he was a completely different guy.

"Kirsten got a bit of stick, which was a bit unfair. Her remit was to reduce the wage bill so she is just doing her job.

"The manager wants more and more players in but he is not all that concerned about getting players out. That's just football at the end of the day."