Irvine: Stubbs was a loose cannon
He watched from afar as the good work of his gaffer was ripped apart piece by piece.
And even now Gary Irvine is still at a loss as to why Alan Stubbs dismantled last season’s Championshipwinning squad.
Irvine was among a raft of players let go by former boss Jack Ross prior to his departure to Sunderland in the summer.
But although he was one of 10 players shown the door by the Black Cats boss, Irvine believes that there was very little surgery required to turn the Championship winners into a Premiership force.
He said:“You don’t get the time these days to bed in a squad, so it makes that level of changes nigh on impossible. It doesn’t work.
“With the situation I am, without a club, I have noticed it more so this season. You will be talking to a club one minute and then next the boss is gone.
“St Mirren had a good squad last season. It didn’t need ripped apart.
“It had a good solid core of players throughout the team, guys that had been successful the season before and had really run away with the league.
“For me some small changes were needed and I know that was always the plan.
“But Stubbs was heavily backed by the club and it clearly hasn’t worked.
“The turnaround in players has been massive. I couldn’t tell you how many it is but very rarely does that level of turnover work.
“I think that was Stubbs’problem. There was too much change.
“That kind of turnaround was never going to work, and from the outside looking in and having been involved in that team, it was madness.
“That squad had built the momentum needed to make a fist of the top flight. Sadly it wasn’t really given the chance.
“But I honestly believe that the spine of that squad was already there and didn’t need torn up and essentially started again.”
As his two former sides prepare to do battle at Dens Park this afternoon, Irvine admits he is at pain to see the pair of them fighting it out at the foot of the league table.
Irvine has skippered both sides and insists that he wants nothing more than to see the clubs do well.
He added: “Unfortunately both teams are struggling at the minute and they will both be desperate for a win to get that out of their system.
“Am I surprised? What I would say is that it is a tough league, especially over the past few seasons.
“You would be expecting both sides to be fighting it out at the bottom because a lot of sides have been investing money into their squads. It isn’t easy to make that step up to the Premiership.”