We survived year of living dangerously
Robbo: Survival highlight of my reign
STEPHEN ROBINSON led Motherwell to the League Cup Final, has his eyes on the Scottish Cup Final and is fighting for a top-six Premiership place.
He has the highest win ratio of a Fir Park boss since Davie Hay 36 years ago and boasts the best defensive record at the club since Alex McLeish back in 1994.
But as he celebrates 12 months in charge today, he reckons keeping the Steelmen up last season is his greatest achievement.
Robinson believes protecting the livelihoods of hard-working club staff and not suffering the stigma of relegation is more gratifying than any of his impressive feats since replacing Mark McGhee on February 28 last year.
The Northern Irishman sad: “The best moment was survival and staying up.
“It’s the pressure you carry around with you, when you know there are going to be 25 jobs lost outside the football staff. You are carrying people who rely on this money to pay bills and mortgages.
“You don’t want to be the manager that takes the club down so there is huge pressure. The boys coped with that and handled it.
“The top six and the cup finals, they are a bonus. Staying in this division is what you are judged on and the highlight for me is staying up and keeping the club alive.”
In a nerve-shredding conclusion to last season, Motherwell only assured their Premiership status in the penultimate game with a 3-1 win over Kilmarnock.
Then Robinson went to work shaking up the squad and although there was a tough spell before Christmas, it has been a remarkable turnaround. Robinson said: “We brought a lot of players in and they hit the ground running a lot faster than people thought.
“We had a spell at Christmas but there were lots of reasons for that. We lost a lot of firstteam players and a squad of our size can’t cope with that.
“Celtic lose six players, they can cope with that, same with Rangers, same probably with Aberdeen and Hibs. We can’t and we paid the price for that by losing players that win matches for you right through the spine of the team.
“To keep the players believing we had to shake it up a bit in January and new faces always bring a bit of momentum back. We have had good results and won five out of nine since we have come back, momentum is building again.
“You are thrilled to survive a year in management! In this day and age, there is not a lot of time. Management is a tough job and with the budget we’re working with and size of club we are, you fight battles every day.
“But we have good staff, a good bunch of players and a board of directors that do their very best, within their means, to back what we want to do to take the club forward.”
Robinson’s men could force their way into the top six tonight with victory over an Aberdeen side still smarting after a 10th consecutive defeat by Celtic last Sunday. Allan Campbell is his only doubt from the win over Dundee. It’s too soon for Deimantas Petravicius but he’ll be fit for Sunday’s Cup quarter-final with Hearts. Skipper Carl McHugh said: “I don’t think there is a good time to get Aberdeen. Anytime they have had a bad result then they always bounce back. “But we have had some good performances against them already and we want another one.”