STEPHEN ROBINSON has welcomed the decision to award Motherwell two wins from their postponed matches against Kilmarnock and St Mirren, saying that his club should not have been unfairly impacted by the ruling.
The Steelmen were awarded two 3-0 victories on Thursday after the SPFL found that both Killie and St Mirren had breached Covid-19 protocols.
Robinson had sympathy for both of the clubs affected, but was delighted to finally have some clarity about whether or not his squad would have to play those matches at a later date.
“We certainly were the last ones who should have had any impact from it,” Robinson said.
“We would have been in a situation where we were going to have to play games against a different team that would have been available on that evening. Teams go and sign players etc.
“There would have been a disadvantage to us to play that amount of games with the squad we’ve got.
“All we called for all along was clarity and a quick decision. Maybe it makes a bit more sense now why it took so long.
“You just have to deal with what is thrown at you and be ultra-careful in our own situation.
“Our protocols are huge and the players are frustrated with it, because there is no mixing, we don’t travel together, we don’t eat together. It’s not normal.
“We’ve got to put all that stuff behind us. We don’t sit on panels, we don’t make decisions, we’re just dealing with the outcome.
“We have to now concentrate on playing football and improving.
“It’s a really strange season for every manager and this isn’t normal times. We’ve got to be grateful that we’ve got a job unlike other people through this Christmas period, which is horrible.”
Robinson now takes his men into today’s game against Hibernian at Fir Park knowing that a win will take them to within two points of the visitors in fourth place, and he admits that the match now takes on a different perspective than it might have done had they not been awarded the wins.
“Yeah of course because we got the six points, but had you said to me that we had to play the games, as a manager I’d expect a minimum of four points from those two games,” he said.
“It’s points that I would have expected. Would we have got maximum points? Who knows, and I’m sure St Mirren and Kilmarnock would say the same, they’d fancy themselves to beat us.
“We’ve got the maximum points which puts us in a brighter position and we’re looking up.”
Given the precedent that has now been set by the SPFL, Robinson says he will reiterate to his players the importance of sticking to the rules.
“The consequences are grave,” he said. “I don’t know the ins and outs of anybody else’s protocols and it would be really unfair of me to comment, because I wouldn’t want any other manager commenting on anything we do.
“We follow the protocols to the best of our ability, right to the letter.
“There’s nothing we’re going to change from that report, we think we’re on the money with it.
“It’s an unfortunate situation we all find ourselves in trying to play football through this.
“You have to remind them all the time because they’re young men so you need to be continually on top of them. There are signs everywhere, there are X marks where they’re allowed to stand, they’re not allowed to travel together or mix with each other and there are only a certain amount of people allowed in each dressing room.
“Consequently, building team spirit is difficult and that goes for every club in Scottish football, but all we can do is keep hammering home the message.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel