Former Hereford United manager Martin Foyle has been praised by St Mirren's manager for his contacts in the game.
Former Hereford United manager Martin Foyle
Stephen Robinson hailed the Scottish Premiership club's head of recruitment Foyle as “irreplaceable” after some of the most recent recruits helped the Buddies to a blistering start to the season.
Foyle, now 61 and who spent most of his playing career at Port Vale and Oxford United, managed Hereford United after their relegation to the Conference in 2012. He was then succeeded by youth team boss Peter Beadle who oversaw the great escape at Aldershot at the end of the 2013/14 season before the club's demise.
For St Mirren, their thumping 4-1 UEFA Conference League win over Icelandic side Valur last Thursday night in Paisley which took the home side into the next round was helped by goals from new signings Shaun Rooney and Alex Iacovitti.
As reported by the BBC, more joy came on Saturday when Roland Idowu, the 22-year-old midfielder who joined on a season-long loan from Shrewsbury, opened the scoring in the home William Hill Premiership opener against Hibernian with fellow new boy Oisin Smyth coming off the bench to net a double in the impressive 3-0 win, both goals set up by James Scott, signed from Exeter after a previous loan spell.
Boss Robinson paid tribute to Foyle, who he worked with at Motherwell and Morecambe before the former Bulls boss made the move north in June 2022.
He said: "He is irreplaceable. A lot of people don’t notice the work that he does.
“He finds me gems from his network of contacts all around the world.
“We shouldn’t get first refusal on a lot of players but because of his relationships we do.
“He’s been invaluable for me so he certainly deserves a lot of credit for the boys we have brought in.
“He throws me some rubbish ones as well by the way!"