For the first time in many a year, the Scottish Premiership table has an old-fashioned look about it, at least in the top half, where the country’s big clubs are finally pulling their weight.
Those who don’t care for poorly-supported interlopers are gladly reporting that ‘natural order’ has been restored, with the top six positions all occupied by bright lights from the big cities.
Not that they should be too smug about our representatives from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee collectively coming good and managing at last to make use of their considerable resources.
For one thing, it has taken them far too long. For another, it’s not over yet. While Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and Aberdeen are guaranteed to finish in the top half — and Dundee United need just one more point — sixth-placed Hearts look distinctly vulnerable.
With two games left before the split, the Edinburgh side are just a point ahead of St Mirren and Motherwell. Hearts have come a long way since they stumbled around in the relegation zone earlier this season, but their turnaround under Neil Critchley has a way to go yet.
St Mirren are not the kind of team you want breathing down your neck. It has been a tough season for Stephen Robinson’s side, but a 5-1 demolition of Kilmarnock on Saturday has served notice of their intention to finish in the top six for the third straight year.
Stephen Robinson has overcome adversity to take St Mirren within a point of the top six
Declan John scores St Mirren’s fifth goal in a 5-1 win against Kilmarnock in Paisley on Saturday
Derek McInnes is under pressure after guiding Kilmarnock to just one point from a possible 15
That would be quite an achievement for St Mirren and for their manager, whose body of work is becoming so convincing that you have to wonder how much longer it will be before a big club comes calling.
During three years in charge of Motherwell, he took them to two cup finals, third place and a European berth. He also made them over £6million from player sales, thanks in no small part to his recruitment chief, Martin Foyle.
At St Mirren, where Foyle is once again proving invaluable, Robinson has shown the same capacity to squeeze every last ounce from limited resources. In 2023, they finished sixth. Last season, they were fifth, which earned them a European place for the first time since 1987.
This campaign has been more challenging. Europe took its toll, as it has with Aberdeen, Hearts and Kilmarnock in recent years. And three of Robinson’s key summer signings — Shaun Rooney, Kevin van Veen and Jaden Brown — left the club after court appearances.
That compromised Robinson’s effort to take St Mirren to another level, but he went back to basics, returned to the transfer market and has gamely battled through bouts of inconsistency to put his team firmly in the mix.
It hasn’t always been pretty, especially on that threadbare Paisley pitch, but St Mirren showed against Kilmarnock that they are a direct, powerful proposition when everything clicks.
Two goals from Caolan Boyd-Munce and one each from Roland Idowu, Mark O’Hara and Declan John blew Kilmarnock away on a windswept day at the SMiSA Stadium. A late Bruce Anderson penalty served only as consolation.
St Mirren’s two remaining games before the split are away to Dundee and at home to Ross County. Motherwell have Kilmarnock away and Hearts at home. If the Tynecastle club want to stay sixth, they will have to fight for it.
Saturday’s unexpectedly one-sided match in Paisley consigned Kilmarnock to a bottom-half finish. More worryingly for the Ayrshire side, they are just a point above second-bottom Dundee and, according to their angry supporters, sleepwalking into a relegation play-off.
Derek McInnes is getting it in the neck for his team’s pitiful away record and for their stale football. They have secured just one point from a possible 15 have not won on the road since October.
The rap is that other managers would not survive a 5-1 thrashing by St Mirren and that McInnes will remain in place only because he has a big reputation and because it is too late in the season to take so drastic a step.
Unless there is improvement soon, owner Billy Bowie will be under pressure to take action in the summer. He is being told by disgruntled fans that McInnes took them as far as he could last season and that they are now going backwards.
It would be a huge call for Bowie, who knows that McInnes is a manager of substance. And that it isn’t easy for provincial teams to be top-six challengers every season, especially now that the big clubs are reasserting themselves.
It isn’t easy, but it’s possible. Just ask Stephen Robinson.
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