Stephen Robinson braced for St Mirren summer transfer rebuild as half his team set to depart

Stephen Robinson admits he's braced for a summer rebuild at St Mirren.

The Buddies boss is preparing to lose half his team despite leading the Paisley club to successive top-six finishes. St Mirren are also on the brink of securing European qualification for the first time since 1987/88 but several key players could depart at the end of the season.

Ryan Strain, Alex Gogic, Keanu Baccus, Charles Dunne, Elvis Bwomono and Ryan Flynn are all in the final weeks of their contracts while loan trio Kwon Hyeok-kyu, Jaden Brown and Zach Hemming will all return to their parent clubs. Robinson has told fans to expect a period of transition but hasn't given up hope of keeping some of his out-of-contract stars.

The Northern Irishman said: "We've got a lot of conversations underway - we'll have a bit of a rebuilding job. It's going to be vital we get the right players in and it will take time for those players to get to the levels of the players that are leaving.

"We've put our very best contract offers to them and we'd love them to stay but some have indicated that won't be the case and others are in negotiations. It's a difficult one at the moment but what I know is every player will give everything for the football club until the end of the season. All I ask is that we all treat the club with respect."

Robinson admits having so many players out-of-contract puts him and St Mirren in a vulnerable position as he said: "A lot of players let their contracts run down, so it's very hard to create assets out of them - they are a lot braver than I was as a player. I would have had a 20-year contract at 20 quid a week! It's the culture. It's difficult to plan because they will have options as we've done well and we have a limit that we can go to.

"We've made good offers and sometimes you just have to accept that won't be quite enough to get the player to sign. I need to have contingency plans for all of them if they stay or not."