Former St Mirren striker believes Northern Irish connection can help Conor McMenamin settle quickly in Scotland

Northern Ireland international McMenamin joined the Paisley outfit on Thursday and made his debut in yesterday’s 2-0 friendly defeat to Morton, coming off the bench at half-time alongside cousin Caolan Boyd-Munce.

With goalkeeper Trevor Carson also at St Mirren and former Irish League star Diarmuid O'Carroll serving as assistant manager to Lisburn-born Robinson, McKnight believes it will help McMenamin hit the ground running.

"They will know him inside out and done their homework with the Glens,” he said. “I know Stephen will be keeping tabs on the league and I think it's a nice transition for our top players to go from the Irish League to Scottish Premiership rather than taking that big jump across to England.

"They will know Conor inside out even through Stephen's time helping Michael (O’Neill) with Northern Ireland and Conor has done really well for Northern Ireland when he has got on the pitch.

"They will know where they see him having the biggest impact this season. It's a massive help having fellow Northern Irishmen looking after him."

Robinson has done a stellar job with St Mirren and led them to their first top-six Premiership finish since 1984/85 last season, handing Celtic one of their three league losses in the process.

The Buddies also reached the Scottish Cup last-16 and McKnight has been impressed by the standards set by Robinson since he was appointed in February 2022.

"I was a big fan of what Oran (Kearney) was doing and I know he came back,” he added. “There's a real affinity with Northern Ireland at this moment in time.

"Stephen is a very accomplished manager and I still have a lot of friends over there that I would speak to and they are really impressed.

"They have the new ground and training facility so St Mirren are a well-run club and with Stephen at the helm everything is going really well.

"They finished in the top-six last season for the first time in 30 years or so, so it's all positive at the minute."

With first-hand experience of the atmosphere that can be created by the St Mirren faithful through two spells in the noughties, McKnight says McMenamin has joined a “cracking club”.

"They are basically seven miles down the road from Ibrox and have such a loyal fanbase,” he said. “With them finishing top-six last season for the first time in years, you're talking about an 8,000 capacity stadium and they're averaging between 6,000-7,000 every single week.

"It's going to feel full and he will notice that. I've no doubt he will love playing in front of those crowds because he's used to having a lot of supporters with his international experience and he'll feel that when he goes to the likes of Pittodrie, Tynecastle and Easter Road because they're averaging about 15,000 every game.

"That's exciting for him to be playing in front of those fans. I really enjoyed my time there but I hurt my hip again and it was very difficult after that.

"During my time they were known as a bit of a sleeping giant and it was purely down to the fact of how close the Old Firm are. To have that 6,000-8,000 supporters every week for St Mirren is phenomenal. St Mirren is a cracking club.”