STEPHEN ROBINSON feels as though he has aged more in the last five years than he had in his previous four decades, but he had no hesitation on signing on once more to go through the wringer at Motherwell.
The Fir Park boss and his assistant Keith Lasley put pen to paper on a new contract yesterday that will keep them at the club until the summer of 2022, and while Robinson has a few more grey hairs to show for his time in Lanarkshire, he says it was an easy decision to commit himself to carrying on the good work he has done there so far.
And he has vowed to keep arguing with chief executive Alan Burrows as the pair look to achieve their common goal of making Motherwell as good as they can possibly be.
“I feel as if I’ve had that FaceApp done to me, I don’t actually look like this!” Robinson said.
“It’s been nearly five years since I first came in, and if I see this contract out I’ll probably look about 90.
“But there’s been really good times. I still say my biggest achievement was keeping the football club up, because there was such pressure at that time.
“We’ve achieved a lot for this football club. We’ve given our young academy boys a lot of minutes and developed them.
“We’ve brought in a lot of players and sold a lot in. I think nine have left for decent fees since I’ve been here.
“I’ve enjoyed it through the good times and the tough times, because I’ve had nothing but support from the staff here and from the fans.
“The key thing is that I’ve not lost my drive, in fact, I’m getting worse and moaning more every day to drive this club forward.
“I certainly won’t be letting my standards slip because I’ve signed a new contract and neither will any member of staff. We won’t allow that to happen.
“You have to buy into the DNA of the football club. It’s frustrating sometimes and I argue with Alan every day, but that’s only because we both want what is best for the football club.
“He has to look after the finances while I always want more. I want better players, better equipment, better training facilities. I want to be successful and the day and hour I stop that then they may as well get rid of me.
“I’m driven for the right reasons, to push Motherwell forward, and all of the staff are the same.
“Keith Lasley has been a brilliant assistant to me and we want to keep pushing the football club forward.”
Robinson will be without new signing Casper Sloth for the visit of Morton to Fir Park this evening due to family issues, while Chris Long is out after suffering a concussion against Queen of the South last week and Devante Cole is struggling with a minor knock.
One man who is looking forward to the game though is new defender Declan Gallagher, who has much to thank his former Livingston boss and current Morton gaffer David Hopkin for after he gave him an opportunity following an assault conviction.
“I am looking forward to seeing David again,” said Gallagher. “He gave me my second chance in football and I worked well with him. I owe him I lot and I probably wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for him. “Once I got my chance I knew I had to take it and I couldn’t look back. I am delighted to be at a great club like Motherwell.
“David will have Morton organised, well drilled and fit. People say his style of play is long ball, but he likes to get the ball in the opposition half early and make them panic and make mistakes in their own half.
“Morton will be a hard team and they have nothing to lose. We are the Premiership team, but they have come off a good win. They have a lot of experienced players like Jim McAlister, who I was with at Dundee, they have John Sutton and Bob McHugh as well.”
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