Saints captain Joe Shaughnessy insists he and his teammates will block out the noise surrounding the future of their boss.
That’s because he’s determined to ensure the Buddies don’t take their eye off the ball despite Jim Goodwin’s potential departure to join Aberdeen.
The current St Mirren gaffer was given permission this afternoon to speak to the Pittodrie club, who have identified him as their top target to replace Stephen Glass.
Ambitious Goodwin is understood to be keen on taking the job, with a potential announcement of him joining the Dons expected either tonight or tomorrow morning.
The Paisley club travel to Livingston tomorrow afternoon looking to extend their current unbeaten run to eight games, with a win potentially pushing them as high as fourth in the Premiership table.
And Shaughnessy believes that is too much of an incentive to pass up, despite the confusion swirling around the club’s training ground this afternoon regarding Goodwin’s future in Paisley.
Shaughnessy told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “It’s to be expected that when a manager is doing well there’s going to be interest in him.
“I’m not surprised because he’s done a very good job here.
“If it was to happen it would obviously be disappointing for us. We’re on a good run and having a good season so far, but that’s football.
“There’s always speculation about players and managers, it’s part of the job. You’re not going to stay anywhere forever, that’s the way football is.
“If there’s interest you’re going to talk to someone and see what opportunity is there, and that seems to be where it is at the minute.
“The good thing is we’ve got a lot of games coming up fast. It’s now a case of doing our job, we can’t affect whether he stays or goes.
“We just get our training done and focus on the game.
“We’re just concentrating on the Livi game now. It’s a big one for us to keep the run going and that’s been our focus this week.
“The form we’re in, we’ve got good players here so it’s a case of more of the same that we need.
“There’s been no problem with focusing this week at all. Most of our work has been done earlier in the week anyway.
“We just need to make sure we’re focused on the task at hand. We need to keep picking up results and that’s our aim going forward.”
Shaughnessy has been around the block long enough to know that managers moving on to other clubs is part and parcel of the game.
But he admits losing Goodwin, who brought him to the club and handed him the captain’s armband, would be a blow, especially given his ability to lead his players and foster a strong squad mentality.
Shaughnessy said: “It’s not a monumental thing.
"It’s part of football and when managers and teams are doing well, it’s always the case that if someone needs a manager they’re going to come looking.
“It’s a compliment to the way we’ve been working and playing that other clubs are interested in him.
“From my experience with him he’s a very good man manager. He’s shown here he gets the best out of players.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with him the last couple of years.”
