STEPHEN ROBINSON has been around the block long enough to know that a manager being under pressure from his supporters when he brings his team to Fir Park is no guarantee of a Motherwell victory. After all, just a fortnight ago, Craig Levein arrived under a cloud with his Hearts side and left with a place in the last eight of the Betfred Cup.
The Motherwell boss also has a constant reminder of how critical fans can be from directly behind his dugout, so he isn’t expecting the supposed pressure on Paul Heckingbottom after his fans booed his substitutions in Hibernian’s draw with St Johnstone last week to have any bearing on today’s clash.
“There’s a guy sitting behind me who even when we are winning, he is still shouting at Carl McHugh, and he’s left!” said Robinson.
“I don’t think people come to football to be rational, they come to voice their opinions and they are all entitled to do that.
“The reality is that it’s my job and Paul’s job to make decisions, some of them are unpopular, but you ultimately make them on what you see in games and training.
“We had one poor game against Hearts, so it puts into perspective the crazy hysteria around management. We just concentrate on doing what we are doing and ignore the outside noise.”
One thing that Robinson was happy to acknowledge was the Scotland under-21 call-up for James Scott, a young striker who he believes has a huge future in the game. And it is probably just as well.
“I’m not sure if it is confidence or stupidity,” Robinson joked. “But he’s a great boy.
“He’s infectious, you can’t help but like him. He’s bubbly around the place. He does stupid things and says stupid things as all young boys do, but you just have to make sure he keeps his feet on the ground.
“But he’s a big talent coming through.”
It was the perfect present for Scott to be called up having turned 19 yesterday, and it was something of a surprise too.
“I didn’t even know about it until I got back from training the other day,” Scott said.
“My Twitter notifications were going mental and that’s when I found out.
“My dad also text me saying, ‘Well done’. I was thinking, ‘What are you talking about?’ Nobody had told me beforehand that I was getting called up - they must have the wrong email.
“So it was through Twitter but I was delighted.”
Meanwhile, Robinson has offered new contracts to his goalkeepers Mark Gillespie and Trevor Carson as he looks to tie up key players on longer deals.
In the Hibs camp, experienced full-back Stephen Whittaker admits he has been taken aback by the furore around last week’s draw with the Saints.
“We’re a big club in this league and we know the expectations that come with that,” Whittaker said. “We need to match those expectations and look to exceed them if we can.
“Have I been surprised by the backlash? A little bit. You’re obviously aware of it and ideally you want the crowd behind you and cheering you on and motivating you to get the points. But that was the situation we were in and it was down to us to deal with it the best we can.”
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