CRITICISM of St Kilda is over the top, says club president Peter Summers.

The sacking of coach Scott Watters last Friday was the culmination of a horror 2013 for the Saints in which Ahmed Saad was charged with a doping offence, Stephen Milne with rape, a dwarf was set on fire at the side's mad Monday celebrations and chief executive Michael Nettlefold quit.

Summers told The Age that the season had certainly set the club back but he insisted things weren't as bad as they had been made out to seem at Moorabbin.

"We've been hurt, yes, but [it has been] overstated, definitely,'' Summers said.

''We understand and accept for all of that we are starting from behind the eight-ball to some extent but I think there has been an overstatement of those things. 

"This is not the same old St Kilda, we are a completely different club. We are … determined to be sustainably successful.''

Summers also claimed Watters' departure had nothing to do with conflicting personalities in the club's football department, but rather the implementation of new structures.  

He said St Kilda was focused on building long-term success and that the reasons behind Watters' sacking would become clearer in coming weeks.