Lasley is the heir apparent at Motherwell
Robinson views Lasley as heir to his throne at Motherwell
STEPHEN ROBINSON has backed assistant Keith Lasley to succeed him as Motherwell manager. Linked with the vacant posts at Northern Ireland and Luton Town, Robinson insists he is not anticipating leaving Fir Park in the near future. But the 45-year-old believes Lasley, who captained the club as a player, would be the perfect replacement as part of a plan to maintain longer-term stability. Robinson said: ‘For me, the natural progression for the club is for Keith to become the manager and I have no doubt that he will do in time.’
STEPHEN Robinson is convinced Keith Lasley will eventually succeed him as Motherwell manager to provide long-term stability at Fir Park.
Robinson stresses he is not anticipating giving up his post any time soon, despite being linked to the vacant posts at Northern Ireland and Luton Town after guiding the Lanarkshire club to third place in the Premiership.
If and when the time does come to leave, however, the 45-year-old firmly believes his assistant is perfectly equipped to seamlessly continue the work of recent seasons.
A Motherwell player for 16 years across two spells, Lasley became the coaching No 2 in June 2017 and has since been schooled in the world of frontline management.
Robinson views promoting from within as one of the key pillars of the strategy developed at Fir Park and would be delighted to see Lasley assume the top job one day.
‘One hundred per cent,’ he said. ‘When I got the job, I said to the board that we are not a club that a new manager comes into and gets rid of absolutely everybody and changes five or six coaching staff.
‘That costs money to pay people off and it doesn’t go with the ethos of the club in terms of development.
‘What I tried to do was put structures in place where if a manager left, the next manager could come in and fit into Motherwell’s way of thinking.
‘That is cost-saving for the football club and that structure is in place now. I brought in Steven Hammell for the academy, for example.
‘For me, the natural progression for the club is for Keith to become the manager and I have no doubt that he will do in time.
‘Watching me and some of the stuff and rubbish you have to deal with at times might have put a wee dampener on his enthusiasm at moments, but he has been great for me.
‘He was a link to the dressing room and the fans. But more importantly, he is a very good coach. Tactically, I think he is very aware. And, as a person, he is excellent.
‘You see good people when you have hard times. Everybody is your mate when you are winning or getting into Europe.
‘When you are not winning games, and that has happened in spells of all three seasons, you see who is loyal to you. And Keith is one of the most loyal people I’ve met.
‘I’ve no doubt he will become a very good manager and, hopefully, at Motherwell. Not just yet, mind. But that is how I see the progression.’
Robinson admits his vision for Motherwell has been influenced by the old ‘boot room’ at Liverpool, as well as the way successful continental clubs ensure a change in head coach does not lead to their entire philosophy being ripped up.
‘The structure is in place, the academy is in place and you need stability,’ added Robinson.
‘Young players we are trying to develop need to see faces where they know what they want from them.
‘A manager coming in will come into a very good structure. But I also wanted to make sure there were opportunities for people to move up.
‘That gives the staff motivation to do their very best because they see progression. That goes for any workplace and every part of the club.
‘I believe we have created that on a much smaller scale to a club like Liverpool. But I have no doubt Keith could step up to become a very shrewd manager.’
Robinson reflects on his own time as Fir Park assistant to Mark McGhee as utterly essential to his managerial development.
‘Obviously, I had the pleasure of working under Michael (O’Neill) for a long time at
Northern Ireland,’ he said. ‘It’s not quite the same because it’s not a day-to-day basis.
‘For me, I think Mark McGhee opened my eyes massively. Mark sort of primed me to be a manager, really.
‘He had me in meetings I shouldn’t have been in. He had me in board meetings, in player meetings, the lot.’
Robinson spent last week discussing the future of out-of-contract first-team players as Motherwell, like every other club, try to deal with the huge financial pressures of the coronavirus shutdown. Squeezed budgets are inevitable, but the Fir Park manager is confident an impressive youth programme will continue to produce.
‘Everything has to be looked at,’ admitted Robinson. ‘It’s a situation where, ultimately, we have to make sure the club continues, which it will do.
‘We have to make sure the first team is playing games and trying to bring in money somehow, whether it’s streaming or bringing the crowds back.
‘That is vital, but obviously our lifeblood and the reason the club is in a decent financial position and we cleared our debts is because we sold players. We develop players and that has to continue.
‘We will be affected. It’s the nature of the world we live in at the moment, but the club’s policy is to bring young ones through.
‘We have six or seven we feel are a year or 18 months from the first team and they’ll come through. That’ll be the next two years. Some will develop faster than others, some will fall away and you have to continue that.
‘We have a good crop at Under-13 and Under-14 level. I might not be there to see them come through by that time, but the club is in very good shape and we’ll continue that as best as we can.’