Stephen Robinson hopes St Mirren can make moves in 'horrible' January transfer window

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson is hoping he will be given a bit of room to manoeuvre in the ‘horrible’ January transfer market —
as crunch budget talks were the main item on the agenda at a key meeting.

Robinson, along with other members of the football board were set to gather to assess how the season has gone, where they can improve and what can be done in the January transfer window.

The manager admits there has been very little time to take a breath and worry about acquiring new players due to Premiership games coming thick and fast.

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“It’s always been the idea to revisit things and see what has worked, what hasn’t worked and what you need,” he said to Paisley Daily Express. “I don’t think there will be millions of pounds available. There never has been.

“I actually haven’t had that conversation yet as we’ve had games thick and fast. We’ve concentrated on what is available to us and what we can influence.

“We’ve got a football board meeting on Tuesday which is good. We’ve targeted certain areas and certain positions. If the board can support me, they will. They always do.”

The Northern Irishman, who has snapped up Welsh defender Declan John on a short-term deal until January, doesn’t want to be forced into paying the odds for players in a window where options are limited.

He added: “The January market is horrible. You pay over the odds for people and there’s not loads of availability. Sometimes you can get lucky and get people. We’ve had our eyes on certain positions before any of the things that caused us to be short of players.

“It’s always something we’re looking at. Martin Foyle [head of recruitment] is excellent and has been with me for a long time. He is ahead of the game in terms of who is available and who might be available.

“We’re still a long way away from January. Things change, people break into first teams or they get injured or they are not available any more. You have got to have a long, long list and by the time we get there, we know what positions we have got to target.”

Saints new boy John told the club website: “I’m absolutely delighted to be here. It’s been a crazy few days. I came up on Thursday, trained on Friday and went to watch the game on Saturday which was a great win for the boys.

“I’ve enjoyed it and I’m really looking forward to getting back into training. From walking in, everything has been so positive and you can feel that in the changing room. It feels like a really good place to be.”

Robbo added: “The circumstances we find ourselves in means we’re very short of defence cover. Declan comes in with a vast amount of experience.

“He’s played at some very high levels and obviously been up in Scotland before as well so we’re very lucky that we’ve been able to get him in. Declan is here on a short-term deal with a view to extending, depending on how it goes.”

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