St Mirren Academy director Allan McManus admits it was dark period earlier this season with long-serving members of the club’s staff losing their jobs.
But he hopes there’s brighter times ahead for the academy kids at Ralston after the cutbacks led to a much closer tie-in with manager Stephen Robinson and his assistant Diarmuid O’Carroll.
McManus has been overseeing the club’s young talents for the last seven years, with the St Mirren Academy reaching elite status for the first time early last year. The last 12 months have been one of the toughest periods in that spell for McManus, with a restructure necessary after the club posted a significant £1.6million loss in their last financial report.
Despite the difficulty the academy has faced as a result, McManus believes there’s been an added boost in recent months with Robinson especially leading the way by bringing the club’s prospective stars closer to the first team.
Speaking exclusively to the Paisley Daily Express , McManus said: “We have had a set of challenges post-covid, like many businesses had.
“Coronavirus was tough on the finances of the club and we’ve had a very tough, dark period over the last 10 to 11 months.
“We lost some very good people who had developed great players for us over the years.
“Robinson and Keith Lasley have been key to how we bounce back from that and they see the academy as being an integral part of the club going forward.
“Their long-term strategy is for the academy to work closely with the first team and the manager.
“This is the closest link I’ve seen since I started here and it’s been a fantastic place and environment to work in.
“It’s been so different with Stephen and Diarmuid working much closer with our young players, which in my view can only have a positive impact on their development.
“Hopefully this will be the start of a run where we see many more players make that step up to the first team.”
The St Mirren Academy had two big success stories in the January transfer window, with Ethan Erhahon joining League One side Lincoln City and teenager Dylan Reid joining English Premier League club Crystal Palace.
McManus is confident the next crop of youngsters are already in the pipeline, with Scotland Under-17 international Murray Campbell and midfielder Fraser Taylor both showing promise for the Saints this season.
McManus said: “The manager is really driving the standards. I knew him before he arrived here and his demands are very high.
“If we want to be a regular top-six side, we all need to be accountable and that means I need to drive the academy on and get more players into the first team.
“The players need to be equipped and ready for the demands of top-flight football and if they work more closely with Robinson earlier on, they’ll know exactly what is required of them when they make the step up.
“We have several players in the academy with the potential to break through and be the next Ethan Erhahon or the next Lewis Morgan.
“Murray is one of them. He’s been impressive and Fraser has been involved with the first team this season too.
“The challenge for them now is to do what Ethan did and break into the team and stay there. The challenge is ‘can you become a mainstay?’
“When you look at the standard of the St Mirren first team now, the amount of quality and internationalists in the squad, it’s hard to move them out.
“By working closer together with the manager, it certainly gives them a better chance of making that next step.”
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