I’ll never treat Saints lads the same way I was treated as a kid

Stubbs: Cleaning the toilet and washing gaffer’s car did me no harm but time’s have changed

ALAN STUBBS grew up in a climate of fear when it was no shock to see players grabbed by the throat and pinned up against a wall by gaffers.

Even now he shrugs off those years of hard labour as a youth ground staff member as character building.

But as much as he admired his old-school former bosses like no-nonsense Scot Bruce Rioch, Stubbs could never take a leaf out of their book as the managerial role has changed.

To the players at St Mirren he has to be more like a caring father than a demanding boss to get the best out of them.

And his ability to deliver discipline with a velvet glove rather than an iron fist is a skill the modern boss must master.

Stubbs, who started his playing career at Bolton, said: “In my early days it was old school. You very rarely find that type of management now.

“Players being strung up by the throat against walls wasn’t normal but it happened.

“That never happened to me – I’m glad I was perhaps one of the better ones who never got that treatment.

“Bruce had his way but it was very good. He was great for me. BY EUAN McLEAN That was probably because I never got some of the treatment some of the others got.

“I was taken under his wing. I was maybe one of Bruce’s adopted sons as some of the older first-team players used to refer to me.

“It was me and Jason McAteer, we were the sons of Bruce. But listen, that was the environment then – knocking on first-team doors before you came in, cleaning the baths, cleaning the manager’s car, brushing the stands.

“Is it right? It was right then I think. It didn’t do me any harm or other people who got brought up in that.

“But the whole mechanism has changed and you have to be very careful what you say now. You have to be politically correct on a lot of things.

“For me I think it has changed for the better, I really do – even though I’m from that era. I’m not knocking that but this is a completely different workplace now.” Hearing him talk about kicks up the backside without a thud would amuse countless strikers who faced an unshakeable centre-back at the likes of Everton and Celtic.

But his ability to cajole rather than clatter could be the secret to getting the best out of a young squad that now includes another rookie in 20-year-old Southampton loanee Alfie Jones.

Stubbs said: “They are not necessarily young players at 19.

“They need men’s football, they need that environment

“I am aware there will be times they might need a kick up the backside but a kick up the backside doesn’t always mean it is a thud.

“It might just need a few harsh words but more often than not you are trying to educate them. That can be through footage, talking one on one, going through areas of the game where they need to improve or are doing well.

“We have to remember these players are coming from very good clubs and that’s the reason you have brought them here.

“Just because they are good at certain things doesn’t mean we can’t keep praising them to get better out of them.

“We just have to look at areas where we feel they can become a more mature player.

“On the pitch is different. You have to be tough out there and unfortunately maybe one or two of the things I got away with when playing I wouldn’t be able to get away with now.

“But you have to adapt. There are a lot more things available to coaches to give players than when I was playing.”