Rising stock may yet put Robinson in the mix

AS the managerial carousel prepares to reach optimum speed, circumstances may yet render Stephen Robinson more than just an interested spectator.

Were the SFA to succeed with their approach f or Michael O’Neill, the Motherwell boss might find himself dragged into the maelstrom.

As a man who represented Northern Ireland seven times, the remarkable job he has overseen at Fir Park will see Robinson listed just beneath tommy Wright in the list of possible successors by the Irish FA.

But a f ailure to usurp the St Johnstone manager as heir to O’Neill’s throne might not be the end of the story for him.

he acted as assistant to the front-runner for the Scotland post throughout their joyous ride to the last 16 of euro 2016. And it surely cannot have escaped his notice that Stuart McCall combined his managerial duties at Fir Park with those as a coach in Gordon Strachan’s set-up.

With Austin MacPhee, O’Neill’s first-team coach at Windsor Park, also ensconced at hearts, no one surely would object to Robinson doing likewise.

however, if the 42-year-old has any designs on a little extracurricular toil, he hides it well.

‘For me to go with Scotland?’ asked Robinson. ‘At the minute, Michael O’Neill is the Northern Ireland manager and I’m the Motherwell manager, so that’s all hearsay and ifs and buts.

‘I’m not so sure. My focus is on Motherwell at this point in time and I’m not sure, as a manager, you could do both roles.

‘If you go away and you lose two or three games, i t would be thrown at you that your focus isn’t at Motherwell. So I’d say that would be very unlikely.’

If dividing his energies between club and an adopted country is, at this stage, unappealing, Robinson seems more amenable to putting them solely i nto succeeding O’Neill — were the Northern Ireland post to become available.

‘I probably will be linked with the job, yeah,’ he added. ‘It’s a big honour for me to even be linked with something like that.

‘I’m very patriotic about my country and I’m very proud of where I come from. I’ve obviously worked at that level before and it was a massive honour to do that.

‘that’s all ifs, buts and maybes, though. I’m very, very happy at Motherwell and Michael is still Northern Ireland manager. I hope he remains, so we’ll worry about that when it happens.’

O’Neill hasn’t just dragged the province out of the gutter and towards respectability but to the point where back-to-back qualifications for maj o r competitions was only prevented by a referee’s mistake.

I f the essence of f ootball management i s ensuring the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, then Scotland’s i nterest in t he edinburgh resident is a matter of logic.

‘I’m not surprised the SFA have made an approach for Michael,’ said Robinson. ‘he would be near the top of the list I would imagine f or any i nternational board looking to be successful and qualify for major tournaments.’

Into the last 16 of the euros and a hair’s breadth from eliminating Switzerland in the World Cup play-off, O’Neill’s methods have proved little short of miraculous.

‘I think it’s the camaraderie and the trust element he gets,’ said Robinson. ‘the players trust him and, as a manager, if you have that, then they’ll run through brick walls for you.

‘his man-management is great and his preparation meticulous, and that’s key to his success.’

Robinson also praised the loyalty of O’Neill’s employers following an initially difficult start to his national tenure and hinted that the SFA might have to show similar patience.

‘I think he won only one of his first ten games and that was against Russia,’ said Robinson. ‘the IFA showed tremendous patience, something people don’t do in football anymore.

‘things don’t change overnight in football, you have to get your ideas across.

‘I’m confident that Michael, being a very i ntelligent and articulate man, would be able to get his ideas across but, the same as Project Brave, it just takes time.

‘People have to be patient but eventually success will come.’