Stephen Robinson wants swift resolution after Shaun Rooney suspended

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson hopes for a swift resolution after Shaun Rooney was suspended by the club.

Saints announced on Thursday that they had suspended the former St Johnstone and Fleetwood full-back “on a precautionary basis” while they carry out an investigation after he made them aware of his involvement in an alleged incident in the centre of Glasgow last week.

The 28-year-old has started 10 games this season but is now set to be absent as the Buddies take on Motherwell in the William Hill Premiership at Fir Park on Saturday.

Robinson said: “I’m not really involved in that decision-making, it’s a board-level decision and I’ve got to concentrate on the football side of things. That’s above me, I deal with football decisions.”

When asked how disruptive the situation had been, he said: “Well, Shaun’s not available, so it’s not an ideal scenario for a manager. But these things happen and it gives other people opportunities, and we’ll deal with it.

“I don’t live in an excuse mentality. We were off (on Thursday) so it didn’t affect anybody. We will work as normal now. It won’t affect anybody bar that I am unable to select a very good player.

“For everyone, we all want the situation resolved as soon as we possibly can.”

It had already been a busy week at St Mirren with the departure of assistant manager Diarmuid O’Carroll to become lead coach of Newcastle Under-21s. Former Albion Rovers manager and Motherwell assistant Brian Kerr has stepped into his place.

Robinson said: “Diarmuid’s been fantastic for the club, he has been very good for me, he’s been with me since Motherwell.

“But it’s an opportunity at one of the richest clubs in the world, one of the biggest clubs in the world, and it was too good to turn down. Diarmuid goes with our best wishes.

“Hopefully we can get a little bit of a little partnership with Newcastle now as well and steal some of their players.

“And I have no doubt that if he chooses to he could go on to be a very good manager one day if he’s crazy enough to put himself in that position.

“We had Brian Kerr in for the last 18 months and he’s been working with the first team for the last year so this isn’t a huge step up for Brian.

“He’s got vast experience in the game as a player at very good levels, he’s worked as assistant manager in the SPFL and the players know him well. It’s an easy transition.

“We will make an announcement next week on who is stepping into the first-team development role.”