Huddersfield Town and Queens Park Rangers reportedly amongst clubs interested in Northern Irish manager after historic achievements

Cardiff City, Huddersfield Town and Queens Park Rangers are all reportedly admirers of Lisburn-born Stephen Robinson as the Football League clubs look to fill their managerial vacancies.

Former Northern Ireland international Robinson, who was in Michael O’Neill’s backroom staff at Euro 2016 and also previously held positions within the Irish FA’s youth set-up, has worked wonders at Scottish Premiership outfit St Mirren.

The 50-year-old has now guided the Buddies to three consecutive top-half finishes – a feat they hadn’t achieved since 1984/85 – and led them back onto the European stage for the first time in 37 years this season.

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Queens Park Rangers ply their trade in the English Championship and last month placed boss Marti Cifuentes on gardening leave with the Spaniard linked to West Brom interest.

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson is reportedly generating interest from a number of Football League clubs. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson is reportedly generating interest from a number of Football League clubs. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson is reportedly generating interest from a number of Football League clubs. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Cardiff parted company with Omer Riza last month and were ultimately relegated from the Championship, finishing bottom of the table, while League One outfit Huddersfield have been without a permanent boss since the departure of former Northern Ireland international Michael Duff.

According to various reports, it now appears Robinson is amongst the contenders for all three jobs with his stock continuing to rise as Saturday’s 2-0 win over Dundee United extended St Mirren’s unbeaten run to four matches.

Robinson started his playing career with Tottenham Hotspur before going on to enjoy spells at Bournemouth, Preston North End and Luton Town.

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He moved into coaching at the Irish FA and has since held managerial positions at Oldham Athletic, Motherwell, Morecambe and St Mirren.

Last year, Robinson signed a contract extension which would keep him in Paisley until 2027 so any potential move would involve compensation for St Mirren.

"I’m very happy here,” Robinson, who has previously been linked with Luton, told the club’s website in October. "We’ve had massive success over the last two and a half seasons.

"That’s something we’ve put a lot of work into and want to continue to build.

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“I felt it was the right time to commit and hopefully keep moving in the right direction.

"We’ve had a few sticky results over the last few weeks where things haven’t gone our way, but we’ve got a lot of belief in the club, what we do and I’m happy to try and push the place forward.

"It’s important for a club of our size to make forward thinking decisions and forward planning and I’m very appreciative of the Board’s support.

"We feel like we can grow the club and keep pushing it forward. There are lots of good ideas and there’s a medium-term vision as well as obviously turning results around and moving back up the table."

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