THE BACK PAGE ROBBO:LASLEY ISAPERFECTFIT
Saints manager hails new appointment
a newspaper
Stephen Robinson insists he played no part in his former colleague Keith Lasley becoming Tony Fitzpatrick’s replacement.
But he is adamant his capture will help direct St Mirren up the table, while harming former club Motherwell in the process.
Lasley was announced as the Buddies’ new chief operating officer last month, the role created to replace Fitzpatrick who has stepped down as chief executive.
Having worked alongside Lasley while the manager at Fir Park, Saints manager Robinson believes the Paisley club have picked the perfect man to take the club forward.
“Motherwell’s loss is certainly our gain,” Robinson told Express Sport.
“Keith identified this role was something that interested him a long time ago.
“He is doing a sporting director course and it was an area he wanted to go into. I think he will be brilliant at it.
“I played no part in the appointment, it was all done through interviews, but I think we have a fantastic football guy coming in.
“I believe he will take the club forward.
“We have a good shell which needs direction and I’m sure he will give us that off the park and I can do it on the park.
“It is a brilliant appointment and he’s not someone who sits in a suit in his office.
“He has played top level football for 20 odd years so he gets it.
“He has a massive work ethic and he knows about the players so we have to use that to our advantage.”
While Lasley has more than 20 years of playing and coaching experience in Scottish football during his two spells with the Steelmen, he won’t be as actively involved with recruitment as Fitzpatrick was.
The 42-year-old is currently enrolled on a Masters of Sport Directorship at Manchester Metropolitan University, with a view to focusing more on matters off the pitch in the coming years.
Nevertheless, Robinson will still be picking his former assistant boss’ brains whenever he needs to as Lasley looks to knit together all of St Mirren’s football departments.
Robinson said: “Keith probably won’t play too big a role in terms of the recruitment side of things.
“There are other people coming in as head of recruitment, but between us all we will have that knowledge and experience.
“He is going to be involved in the general running of the football side of the club, so he will be joining all the football departments together.
“He will be the go between with the board to try and take the club going forward.
“I will pick his brain in terms of getting his opinion on things though, as he is a very knowledgeable guy.”
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