St Mirren have tasked Stephen Robinson with leading the club to the top six after handing him a two-and-a-half year deal to replace Jim Goodwin.
The Buddies had been looking several different options to fill their vacant manager seat, with Scott Brown, Steven Naismith, Massimo Donati and Jack Ross all considered for the post.
But the Saints made former Motherwell gaffer Robinson their top target and moved swiftly to seal a deal with struggling English League One side Morecambe FC for his services.
They agreed to pay £100,000 compensation to bring him to Paisley, where he will be joined by assistant manager Diarmuid O'Carroll who worked alongside him previously at Motherwell, as well as handing Robinson a bumper contract which sees him become the club's highest paid manager ever.
Robinson told stmirren.com: "It's an absolute honour that St Mirren have come in and were willing to pay the compensation.
"It came out of the blue and when I spoke to the guys at the club it really impressed me what they are trying to do.
"We spoke in-depth about where we can take the club and there's real exciting times ahead.
"With the foundations that have already been built by Jim it's up to me to take them on and build on what's already been done."
Robinson and O'Carroll took the Fir Park side to the League Cup and Scottish Cup finals in the 2017/18 season, losing both to Celtic, as well into Europe having finished third in the Premiership in the 2019/20 campaign.
The Steelmen went on to reach the third round of the Europa League, eventually being put out of the competition by Hapoel Be'er Sheva, having beaten Glentoran and Coleraine in earlier rounds.
Robinson and O'Carroll also developed several talented young players at Fir Park during their tenure, bringing through talents including David Turnbull, Allan Campbell and Jake Hastie.
Don't miss the latest headlines from around Renfrewshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
Saints chief executive Tony Fitzpatrick said: "We are all delighted to welcome Stephen as the new manager of St Mirren.
"Stephen fits the profile of what we are looking for in a manager.
"He has great experience of the Scottish game and had good success on the park with Motherwell which saw him reach the finals of both the League and Scottish Cups as well a third-place finish and qualification for the Europa League.
"Stephen also did a tremendous job of developing young players at Motherwell which was an important consideration for us with the St Mirren Youth Academy one of the main pillars of our football club.
"We would like to thank Morecambe FC for their co-operation in getting this deal completed."
Robinson resigned after three years in charge at Fir Park in December 2020, and had only joined the Shrimps in June last year.
With Morecombe currently languishing in 21st spot in the table, he'll be looking to hit the ground running with the Buddies tomorrow night when they take on Dundee with a chance to jump up to fourth spot in the Premiership with a victory.
Robinson has already worked with current St Mirren players Richard Tait, Charles Dunne and Curtis Main during his time in North Lanarkshire.
Download the FREE Renfrewshire Live app now for all the latest news, features and sport in your area. Available on both Android and Apple. Download here:smarturl.it/RenfrewLiveSocial
