BLIND AMBITION

Fitzpatrick not helping Goodwin with top-six claim, says Stubbs

THE LINE between ambition and delusion can be wafer thin. So thin, sometimes, that the people closest to the line can’t see it.

By predicting big things for St Mirren this season Tony Fitzpatrick stands accused of tumbling over the line head first.

‘We will be in the top six, make no mistake about it,’ said Fitzpatrick last week. ‘And why not this year? We are building a good squad, it’s not pie in the sky. St Mirren is used to success.’

Traditionally perhaps. Outwith a League Cup win in 2013, however, they haven’t seen much recently.

Jim Goodwin’s side only avoided relegation from a curtailed top flight following a 1-0 win over Hearts before the suspension of last season.

The season before they survived the relegation play-offs. Eighth is their highest finish in a 12-team league in the last 20 years.

Despite that Fitzpatrick — a passionate supporter and CEO of the club — insists it is ‘not acceptable’ for St Mirren to simply settle for staying up.

And Alan Stubbs, sacked as manager after just four league games in charge, believes that kind of talk only piles pressure on current boss Goodwin (below).

‘It doesn’t necessarily help anybody,’ Stubbs told the BBC Scotland football podcast. ‘It’s okay Tony saying he thinks St Mirren are a top-six club. He is entitled to his opinion on that.

‘But Motherwell have established themselves through five or six years of growth. They have steadily become what people look at as a topsix team.

‘But you can’t go from a point above relegation to suddenly thinking you are a top-six team.

‘It’s great having ambition but you have to have a realistic view about it as well. ‘Is the St Mirren budget going to be that of a top-six club this year? If that’s the case then fair enough, but I would very much doubt that. ‘So if Jim has got some magic hat in terms of the players he is going to bring in that are going to suddenly elevate them from being third bottom to a top-six team, then great, it’s going to be a fantastic season for them. ‘But all it does is put pressure on everybody before a ball is even kicked. ‘There is nothing wrong with having ambition and saying, “We want to do this” and “We want to do that”. ‘But go about it quietly. Don’t tell the world about it.’ Last year Fitzpatrick went further, claiming St Mirren were actually a top-four club. In a footballing climate, where clubs tend to reap what they sow but budgets have a major say in where a club finishes in the league.

And, despite Covid-19 leading to a levelling out of the financial climate, Stubbs fears Goodwin can’t compete with the superior spending power of Celtic, Rangers, Hibernian, Aberdeen or others.

‘The biggest proof will come on the pitch,’ he insisted. ‘Will they back the manager financially to become a top-six club? I doubt anyone will be able to give their manager extra money with everything that has gone on in the last three or four months.

‘If anything things will be cut so I find that very difficult to understand and I think it’s unnecessary to come out with such bold statements.’

Despite a brutal sacking, triggered by poor recruitment, Stubbs insists he bears no ill-will towards the Paisley club.

Accepting that too many of the 13 players he signed failed to perform, he believes the absence of a joined-up scouting structure contributed towards his sacking.

And, despite the appointment of former boss Gus MacPherson as technical director, Stubbs sees little or no evidence of sustained improvement.

‘When you have got no money recruitment is so vital — and they had no recruitment structure whatsoever,’ said the former Celtic and Everton defender.

‘When that is the case — and you are chasing around so late in the day for players — it becomes very difficult. You end up having to take players that a lot of other clubs have already dismissed.

‘You are behind everybody. Those are not excuses, they are just simple facts.

‘Some of the signings I made were big gambles, but you have to gamble when you are in that position with the revenue and budget that you’ve got because it’s so late in the day.

‘The manager there now will be in exactly the same position. He will have walked in and thought: “Oh my God”.

‘The same applied to Oran Kearney when he came in. The club needed a whole restructure.

‘When you don’t have a very competitive budget these are fundamentals you need in a club that need to be set in stone, but they weren’t.

‘From the sports science to recruitment to nutrition, there were lots of things.’