“My wife and two boys hear all the criticism. You forget as a manager, I’m somebody’s son, somebody’s dad, somebody’s husband, somebody’s brother, and they take it a lot more personally than I do. For them, it’s a special day.”
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson hailed a team effort on and off the pitch after his side lifted the Premier Sports Cup with a fully deserved 3-1 win over Celtic at Hampden.
Robinson has a strong case to be St Mirren’s greatest manager, having followed three consecutive top-six finishes with the club’s fifth major cup win. But his thoughts were for others after the stunning success.
“In terms of coaching staff, playing staff, admin staff, we’ve got the smallest in the country,” the Lisburn man said. “And for the level of work they put in, I’m delighted for them more than myself.
“The people that put all the hard work in and the players that have to go in the arena, they’re the ones that deserve all the credit.”
Robinson described his emotions after the full-time whistle.
“It’s hard to put into words. My two boys are over from Belfast. My wife was here, she doesn’t go to lots of games because she doesn’t like the stick that you get.
“They hear all the criticism. You forget as a manager, I’m somebody’s son, somebody’s dad, somebody’s husband, somebody’s brother, and they take it a lot more personally than I do. For them, it’s a special day.”
Robinson believes his players, who won it through a Jonah Ayunga double and another from Marcus Fraser, will be assured of legendary status now
Robinson joked he already has VIP access at a local nightclub and added: “I think I’ve got the freedom of Vienna’s, I know that. I’ve got that on a poster, I’ve got lifetime membership of Vienna’s and my younger boy’s devastated because he wants it.
“Look, I’m humbled with things like that, when you see banners, when you see the fans’ reaction, I’m absolutely humbled. I don’t really seek a lot of attention in life, I’m quite happy for my players to have it, they’re the ones that go into the arena, they’re the ones that have got to go in and put their bodies on the line, take the information on board, carry that out.
“I like to see them get the praise more than anything, they’re never going to change their life at St Mirren with money. But you’ve just said that I’ll get the freedom, they should have the freedom, they’re the ones that will be remembered forever.
“I want to see their name and their pictures all around the stadium, like the other teams that have won trophies. They’ve done top six, they’ve done Europe, they’ve done a cup.”
Robinson claimed his celebrations will be short-lived before he turns his attention to getting St Mirren up the Premiership table. He added: “I said to them, win the cup and stay up, and by that I mean, get enough points and stay up and then look where we can go from there.
“Ultimately I probably started thinking that about 10 o’clock tonight instead of enjoying myself, but you never know, a couple of whiskeys might sort that out.”
