Saints boss Stephen Robinson doesn’t sugar-coat the fact he hates the January transfer window.
But he’s determined not to let it derail the Paisley club’s top-six bid as they look to hang on to their key assets this month.
St Mirren supporters are anxiously waiting to see if first-team stars Ethan Erhahon and Keanu Baccus and fringe fans’ favourites Eamonn Brophy and Joe Shaughnessy will still be wearing the stripes by the time the window shuts at the end of the month.
Robinson admits the Saints are at the mercy of clubs with bigger budgets who are currently targeting their best players.
He’s adamant they won’t be left short though, despite the difficulties operating in the January window present.
Robinson told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “I hate it because we’re never in a position to be very proactive, you’re always reactive when you’re at one of the smaller clubs.
“You can’t ever forward plan too much because it all depends on what happens at your end as you are a selling club.
“We have to sell players to survive and we’re always at the mercy of clubs with more money.
“I might turn my phone off, but I’m not sure the board will do the same!
“You don’t get any complaints from me. It was the same at Motherwell and every player has a price. We hope we get a good price for people and then try to replace them, or someone steps up within the building.
“It’s difficult because bids can come in at the last minute. You can have five or 10 people you’re looking at but by the time the January 31 comes that can be down to one, or even none.
“That one might not want to come, or might not be able to agree a contract. So it’s a precarious month for the smaller clubs.
“But I’m no different from anyone else in that position. You have to deal with it and handle it and hopefully we can get through and stay unscathed in terms of players leaving.”
Robinson believes one secret weapon St Mirren have up their sleeve is their head of recruitment Martin Foyle.
Having previously worked together at Motherwell and Morecambe, Robinson believes the pair have already made a strong start to their recruitment in Paisley after a number of summer recruits hit the ground running this season.
He hopes the instant success of the likes of Aussie imports Baccus and Ryan Strain also helps to persuade other potential signings to make the switch to the SMiSA Stadium.
Robinson said: “My head of recruitment Martin Foyle is exceptional. The job he did at Motherwell and the amount of money between us as a staff that we brought in was huge.
“We brought in players here in the summer and they have been outstanding and one will come very good for us now he’s back fit – Toyosi Olusanya.
“Martin’s played a huge part and we’ve done it on the same budget as the previous manager. It’s a minimal budget and I think we’re pretty good at recruiting.
“St Mirren is a very good football club and gives players a very good platform to go and play football.
“We’ve got a lot of interest at the moment in players we brought in during the summer and hopefully boys considering a move here will see that and think they have the same platform to do the same. That’s what motivates players.
“We play a decent style of football, we’re competitive and the fans have been terrific. The stadium is nice too, so it’s an attractive choice for players.
“We can’t pay millions of pounds to bring players in on big wages. But there’s a real place for them to come and develop here and then move on and help us along the way.”
As well as targeting potential signings, Robinson also hopes academy youngsters Jay Henderson, Keiran Offord and Lewis Jamieson can develop during their loan spells this season before coming back into the first-team fold in Paisley in the summer.
Robinson added: “We’ve got a lot of young players who aren’t quite ready to go in the team yet that we’ve put out on loan to get experience.
“Hopefully they come back, impress and then save us money, because they’re already ours.
“It’s a two-fold plan. We need to attract players on low money and then sell them on again, and we need to develop our own boys and put a better structure in place to help move them up to the first team.
“That part is probably going to be in place more for next season.”
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