I will be in frame for Fir Park job if we keep on winning SAYS STEVE ROBINSON
“I felt I owed it to the football club to give it a bit of stability”
FOR Steve Robinson, the advantage he has over his fellow contenders for the Motherwell job is that his ‘interviews’ will take place on the pitch as well as in the boardroom.
The caretaker boss did his chances of outshining the other candidates on a five-man shortlist no harm with last weekend’s fine come-from-behind 2-1 win at Kilmarnock.
But the 42-year-old’s credentials for the post will undergo forensic scrutiny tomorrow when his injuryravaged side take on high-flying Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
The Steelmen are heading for a venue that saw them ship seven goals last month, with just veteran left-back Steven Hammell available from the back five who helped secure a vital three points at Rugby Park.
Centre-half Stephen McManus is already out for six weeks after undergoing a groin operation, while Robinson confirmed yesterday that right-back Richard Tait needs to go under the knife and will not play again this season.
Carl McHugh, Ben Heneghan and Zak Jules are all struggling to be fit for the trip to the Granite City, while top scorer Louis Moult is suspended.
‘Apart from that, everything is all right,’ deadpanned Robinson. ‘But that’s management. You just have to deal with it.
‘I felt I owed it to the football club to try and give it a bit of stability for the next few weeks.
‘Ultimately, other people will make the decision (on who gets the job) from there. I’ll just get on with doing what I’m doing and make sure we are prepared for however long that might be required.
‘I haven’t gone chasing anybody to get answers and they haven’t come chasing me for my thoughts at this moment in time.
‘But, obviously, last week can’t have harmed my chances. The result helps.
‘Winning football matches helps breed confidence and if you can continue to do that, then it obviously puts you in the frame.
‘I think ultimately I will get judged on what happens on a Saturday.’
Robinson returned for a second spell as a coach at Fir Park last month after being sacked by Oldham with his old team rooted at the foot of League One. The former No 2 to Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill had inherited just five players when he arrived at Boundary Park in July — with a month to find a squad before the start of the season. His plans to further strengthen in January were denied when it emerged the club were under a transfer embargo thanks to unpaid bills. One of the favourites to replace Mark McGhee, with Lee McCulloch, Owen Coyle, Billy Davies, and Simo Valakari also linked with the post, he feels he is a stronger, better manager for that testing experience in England. ‘There were a lot of problems at Oldham, but that is modern-day management,’ he said. ‘You have to deal with those problems and you learn from every experience within football.
‘I think I’m a lot stronger than what I was. If you have to be ruthless, then you be ruthless.
‘I’ve no problem with that but I don’t think you always have to be like that.
‘Ultimately, you’re judged on what happens on a Saturday, so I’ll do whatever it takes to win matches and keep Motherwell in this division.
‘If that means sacrificing players at half-time or sacrificing players after 20 minutes, then I will do it. I’m brave enough to make those decisions.
‘But I will treat the players properly and I’ll treat them with great respect, as long as they are giving me and Motherwell Football Club everything.’
McGhee was once the darling of Pittodrie, but losing 7-2 at Aberdeen was the second in a sequence of four games that saw Motherwell ship 17 goals and ultimately cost the Gothenburg Great his job.
Robinson admits his players head to the north east with a desire to atone for the events of February 15.
‘We are most definitely going up there with a point to prove,’ he continued.
‘The players, first and foremost, owe it to themselves to put in a performance and to the fans who travelled up there the last time.
‘They’ll go there and they will be prepared, and whatever happens, I have said to them all week that we will be demanding a performance.
‘The result will take care of itself, but first and foremost the performance, the desire and attitude that we showed last Saturday in Kilmarnock is the basics of football.
‘That needs to be a constant every week.
‘But there have definitely been a lot more smiles about the place this week after winning at Kilmarnock.
‘That win has lifted the spirits in the camp and there’s been a lot of positivity about the place since then.’