Stephen Robinson revealed St Mirren’s interest in him came as a bolt from the blue.
But the former Motherwell man is determined to lead the black and white stripes to top six success this season.
Then he’s set his sights on building the Saints up to become a serious force at the top end of Scottish football, going on to make an impact on the continent once again by qualifying for European competition.
Robinson was thrown straight into the thick of the action this morning, taking training with his new players ahead of his first match as boss against Dundee tomorrow night.
A win in his first match would lift the Paisley club up to fourth spot in the Premiership table.
And Robinson is determined to build on the steady progress the club were making under Jim Goodwin before taking them to the next level.
He told Renfrewshire Live Sport: "It came completely out of the blue. I took training with Morecambe in the morning and then came back to a lot of text messages.
“I met with the chairman and St Mirren had made a big play to get me. They’d agreed compensation and wanted to speak to me and I think I have to take that as a massive compliment.
“St Mirren made their intentions very clear. When they told me the ambitions of the club and the set up, the training facilities that they’re trying to improve then it was a very exciting opportunity that was very, very difficult to turn down.
“The current squad is a big bonus as well. Usually when you come into a football club it’s an entire rebuild when a manager leaves.
“That’s certainly not the case here. I’ve inherited a very good squad here, a lot of good players that are very confident.
“I just need to tickle it along for now and gradually put my own stamp on it how we go.
“It takes time to build things. There’s already a lot of good stuff put in place here and it’s for me to continue to do that, first and foremost by breaking into the top six.
“Then it’s about doing that on a regular basis. There’s European football down to fourth position these days, so as we progress there’s certainly an infrastructure and platform here to do that.”
Robinson hasn’t been away from Scottish football for very long, having only left Motherwell a little over a year ago in December 2020.
The 42-year-old former Tottenham and Bournemouth midfielder believes he can use his previous experience at Fir Park to his advantage, especially with former players Richard Tait, Charles Dunne and Curtis Main all now plying their trade with the Buddies.
While the competition for a top half position is set to be fierce heading towards the split, Robinson feels the squad has a real chance of making that top six dream a reality in six weeks’ time.
Robinson said: “I took training today and the first thing I noticed was the confidence of the players.
“The buy in and the drive they showed me tells me we’ve got a real chance of achieving our goals.
“When you’ve got that togetherness and a good strong group of boys that Jim has put together, if I can continue to boost that along and add as we go we’ve got as much chance as anyone else.
“I’ve worked with a lot of the players that are here, played against a lot of them as well so you’re not going in blind.
“Jordan Jones I’ve worked with with Northern Ireland and that gives you a platform to build from.
“People are used to your voice, your demands and your standards.
“It’s going to be a tough challenge to get into that top six. There’s four or five other teams all chasing the same dream.
“We’ve certainly got the squad to do it.”
St Mirren head to Dundee this evening boosted by the return of key striker Eamonn Brophy, who looks set to return from an ankle injury well ahead of schedule.
Robinson added: “Eamonn trained fully today and has trained the last three or four days, according to the medical staff.
“As long as he doesn’t have any reaction we hope to have him involved tomorrow night.”
