Charles Dunne is weighing up a new deal at St Mirren as Stephen Robinson looks to nail down the core group of his top six chasing stars beyond the summer.
Record Sport revealed last month that Curtis Main had also been offered fresh terms after Trevor Carson, Marcus Fraser and Greg Kiltie all penned extensions to their contracts. Defender Dunne and frontman Main are in the final months of their deals and Robinson hopes to make his and recruitment chief Martin Foyle’s summer business a little easier by tying down his trusted troops now.
But he knows both will have options from elsewhere to weigh up. He said: “We’ve made offers to Curtis Main and Charles Dunne and that is still ongoing. The two of them have been fantastic for us this season. It is important to keep the core of players together. It means you might only sign four or five players instead of 11 or 12. Martin Foyle and I sat down over the international break and discussed things.
“We hope the boys sign deals but sometimes you have to wish them well and they move on. Players will have options whether they sign deals or not but no matter what their contract situation they will be committed to St Mirren until the end of the season.
“We are actually in a position for the first time in a while to offer contracts to players during the season. We want to build on what we have done and keep that group together.
“It’s credit to boys like Trevor Carson, Marcus Fraser and Greg Kiltie who have signed new deals. They have all done well for us and they would have had other options.
“But we are a club that still sells players, so when we are speaking to boys, we tell them when they sign a contract it isn’t for life. They are helping us on our journey but they are still in the shop window.
"We are in a good position when we can forward plan as you think you know what division you will be in next season. You can make calculated decisions in terms of what you can do and that’s an advantage over previous seasons when that maybe wasn’t the case.
“I used to take things personally if players moved on but I have matured and I understand the parameters in football. We can never change someone’s life in terms of money if they play here.”
Robinson also has an eye on the future with new deals on the table to home grown Buddies Jay Henderson and Lewis Jamieson.
He said: “We took the decision to put both of them on loan, Lewis went to Airdrie early on and then we brought him back. We took a hit with Jay at Christmas to try to get him game time because we don’t have a development squad.
“So we are hoping to get the rewards of his stint at Inverness and he signs his deal and is ready to go for next season.”
