STEPHEN ROBINSON was the outstanding candidate to become Motherwell's next manager according to the club who confirmed his appointment last night.
The 42-year-old former Northern Irish international was brought back to Fir Park in January by Mark McGhee, who he replaces, having previously been assistant to Ian Baraclough.
Following McGhee’s departure two weeks ago, Robinson took temporary charge for two matches and did enough in that time for him to be offered a contract until May 2018.
Robinson said: "I am absolutely delighted and proud to lead this football club, a club with a rich history in the Scottish game. It’s a great place to be with great people with a support that deserve success.
“My mission from the board is absolutely clear. Firstly, to ensure the team have a strong finish to the SPFL Premiership season and finish as high as we possibly can between now and May.
“Then, to help shape the club going forward with a strong emphasis on hard-work, discipline and a real passion and desire for Motherwell that the fans can get behind and be proud of."
Motherwell is a club in need of a clear-out. They have been drifting since the heady days of Stuart McCall making them, quite incredibly, the second best team in Scotland.
The playing squad needs a re-haul, more players from the youth team, current Scottish Cup champions and semi-finalists this year, have to be given their chance and maybe it's time to get rid of some of the old guard, as difficult as that will be given they are good guys and wonderful servants.
This season they have looked a tired team full of familiar players making familiar mistakes. They should be better than this. McGhee has to take a lot of responsibility for the fact the Lanarkshire team sit three points above second bottom Hamilton.
For their supporters, this has been a wretched season, which seemed to end that day in Ibrox when they should have beaten Rangers in the Scottish Cup but failed to see out the game and were done by two late Kenny Miller goals.
McGhee's mojo seemed to go that day, as did many of of the players. Then came the 7-2 defeat at Pittodrie when McGhee, a popular figure in his first spell at Fir Park, lost the support and his temper at the fourth official.
Then his team were 5-1 down to Dundee at home at half-time. The protestors outside afterwards might have been of school age but their message for the manager to go was listened to.
On the face of it, Robinson doesn't have a lot to work with and yet in only two games the team have looked more organised and some spirit has been rediscovered.
A 2-1 win at Rugby Park having been behind was a result few saw coming and while they again tasted defeat at Pittodrie last Saturday, this time a last-minute goal did for them. At least it's a start.
Everyone who comes into contact with Robinson has only good things to say about a coach who was integral to the progress of the Northern Ireland international team. He has some task on his hands and Scottish football should wish him well because our game is a lot more fun with a stronger Motherwell.
We are extremely pleased Stephen has taken the role of manager and we look forward to working with him in the future," said the chairman Jim McMahon. "The executive board, together with representatives from both the supervisory board and the ‘Well Society, identified a shortlist of five candidates from over fifty applicants and as well as doing a extensive amount of background work, took its time to conclude an rigorous interview process.
“His values, skills and attributes matched exactly with the criteria we developed to be the manager of this football club and we wish him every success. I would ask our fantastic supporters to get behind Stephen and the players as we aim to finish the campaign strongly.
"It was clear that Stephen was the outstanding candidate. He has a real vision of what the club needed in the short, medium and long-term and a plan of how he would implement it."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel