Stephen Robinson: 'I'll build statues of St Mirren players if they reach Europe'

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson says he’ll build statues of his players if they can make a late push to qualify for European football.

The Paisley side scraped into the top six on the final day before the split and currently sit five points off fifth place, and potential qualification for the Conference League, with three games left to play.

Robinson had previously said that the players deserved to be immortalised for reaching the top half for the third successive season. Now he’s joked he’ll do the work himself if they can book continental competition against the odds.

“I’ll build them for the players,” he said. “It’s a super group of staff and players.

“There’s boys that have been here for the full three years that I’ve been here, and there’s been a relative success.

“It’s relative to what your resources are, and for us to be top six for three years in a row is a brilliant achievement for the staff and players.

“We’ve given ourselves a chance to hang in there. It’s a long shot, we know that.

“We have to keep winning but we’re capable of that, there’s no doubt about it. If we have everybody fit for the last three games so hopefully we can keep it going to the last kick of the season.”

Saturday sees St Mirren travel to Tannadice to take on a Dundee United side who are directly above them and who have lost both of their post-split fixtures so far.

Jim Goodwin’s United side have won all three encounters between the sides so far, with two 1-0 wins in Paisley, either side of a 2-0 win at Tannadice in November.

Robinson believes St Mirren, who have lost only one of their last six games, are in a better place now and can play without pressure, knowing United have been in the mix for Europe for far longer.

“I believe we’re a different team to when we played them,” the manager said. “There wasn’t a lot in the games, of course, but Jim has had the hold over us for those three games.

“Our motivation has to be just to try and get the three points and forget about what’s happened in the past.

“We’ll go up there, take a decent crowd and we have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

“In everybody’s eyes, it’s been a terrific season and a very successful season but three points could give the chance to make it even more successful.

“The season has been a success already, so there’s no pressure on us. When you’ve been in a situation where you think you’re guaranteed to be in Europe the whole time, the pressure is on other teams.

“We were fighting to get into the top six until the very last minute so the pressure is obviously off us. That doesn’t mean to say we go without any expectation.

“We go and we expect to get three points given what we are playing. That would make it interesting and it’s up to us to do that.”