St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson admits he’s ‘envious’ of other Scottish Premiership bosses who have more cash to spend this summer.
The Buddies kick off their Scottish Premiership campaign this weekend against Hibs, who have splashed out a reported £700K on Dutch striker Dylan Vente.
Speaking today the St Mirren boss said: “I think jealous is the proper word when you read, whether it’s true or not, the amount of money that is being spent.
“I read some stuff about us and think that’s an absolute load of rubbish. But, you know, some of the figures banded about for players, yeah, it just makes you envious.
“These clubs have big crowds, big backers, and lots of money so they deserve to go and spend that.”
The Northern Irishman’s St Mirren enjoyed a historic season last year as they earned their first ever top-six finish since the league moved to its current format.
The Buddies were one of only two sides to take points off both Celtic and Rangers and no other side in the league took more points off the league champions than they did – five.
Despite his envy of the spending power held by Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs, the Paisley boss is confident that his side can challenge the country’s traditional top fiive clubs on the pitch again this season.
He said: “It’s not a complaint, it is what it is, and you have to just go and bridge that gap through honesty and hard work. We believe we have a lot of quality and value for money for what we’ve got here.
“Football is not played on paper… there is always surprises. In terms of the finances and size of the clubs, top five should be taken (by Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs).
“But that’s not always the case, you can bridge that gap through hard work, organisation, and characters that you have at the football club that we believe we have.”
St Mirren have offloaded under-contract players Trevor Carson and Declan Gallagher this window and several reports have suggested the club paid a six-figure fee to acquire the services of marquee signing Colin McMenamin.
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