St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson has shrugged off criticism of his side from Chris Sutton, saying he “doesn’t care” what the television pundit says.
Former Celtic striker Sutton was talking about the Paisley side while working for Sky Sports, and said St Mirren “lump it” forward and that he wouldn’t pay to watch the team play football.
As he prepared for Friday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final against Kilmarnock, Robinson, who has taken St Mirren into the top six of the Premiership in the past three seasons and led the club into Europe for the first time since 1988, said he wasn’t concerned with what other people said about his style.
“I didn’t see the comments,” he said. “People always like to tell you good news, so I got told some of it, but everyone’s got an opinion and everyone’s entitled to it.
“I don’t actually care.
“To be honest with you, I’m very confident in what I do. You don’t get 400 league games if you don’t know what you’re doing, and yeah, everyone’s entitled to their opinion.
“That’s it. Listen, everyone’s entitled to their opinion, so that’s what people are paying for, is trying to stay relevant, and it doesn’t bother me too much to be honest.”
The manager’s focus is on what he expects to be a tough cup tie at Rugby Park, and he said that his players have to make the most of the chance to reach Hampden.
Robinson wants to build on last weekend’s away win over Falkirk, but says they will need to be even better to progress in the cup competition.
“Of course, when you get to this stage in the quarter-final, then it’s everything to gain,” the Saints boss said.
“We go there confident after our start to the league season.
“It’s a tough game. I’ve watched Killie three times this season. It’s going to be a tough task.
“They’ve got some very, very good players. They’ve got a lot of physicality in the team, but also a mix of really talented boys as well, some we know very well.
“So we have to be at the top of our game. We weren’t on Saturday. We’ll have to have a better performance on Saturday to progress.”
Robinson took Motherwell to two cup finals in his time at Fir Park but has said that one thing missing from his success at St Mirren, which includes three consecutive top six finishes and a return to European football, is a run in the domestic cups.
The club last reached Hampden in 2021, and the manager says he has told his players they can’t pass up the chance to deliver something memorable for the support.
“You see the display the fans put on Saturday away at Falkirk and what they’ve done during the season, the amount of effort and time and money that’s spent on it, you’d love to reward them,” he said.
“I’ve said to the players, you know, sometimes these opportunities come round once in a career.
“I’ve been very lucky that it’s come round a few times. But that doesn’t often happen.
“So you have to grab these opportunities. We want to progress in any way possible.
“It doesn’t have to be the best performance in the world, but you have to find a way to win.”
St Mirren will be without defender Marcus Fraser for the game after he picked up an ankle injury that will keep him out for the next few weeks but summer signing Richard King is expected to replace him after what Robinson said was a “fantastic” performance off the bench against Falkirk.
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