St Mirren player Shaun Rooney charged with alleged assault on 18-year-old woman

St Mirren defender Shaun Rooney has been charged with an alleged assault on an 18-year-old woman.

The 28-year-old former Inverness, St Johnstone and Fleetwood player was suspended by his club on Thursday.

A Police Scotland statement on Friday read: “A 28-year-old man was arrested and charged in connection with an assault on an 18-year-old woman and a breach of the peace against an 18-year-old man in takeaway premises on Queen Street, Glasgow, in the early hours of Thursday, 19 September, 2024.

“He was released on an undertaking to appeal at Glasgow Sheriff Court at a later date. A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.”

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Saints announced on Thursday that they had suspended the full-back “on a precautionary basis” while they carry out an investigation after he made them aware of his involvement in an alleged incident in the centre of Glasgow.

Rooney has started 10 games this season but will be absent as the Buddies take on Motherwell in the William Hill Premiership at Fir Park on Saturday.

Manager Stephen Robinson faced questions about the suspension at his pre-match media conference, before the news of Rooney’s arrest was made public.

Robinson said: “I’m not really involved in that decision-making, it’s a board-level decision and I’ve got to concentrate on the football side of things. That’s above me, I deal with football decisions.”

When asked how disruptive the situation had been, he said: “Well, Shaun’s not available, so it’s not an ideal scenario for a manager. But these things happen and it gives other people opportunities, and we’ll deal with it.

“I don’t live in an excuse mentality. We were off (on Thursday) so it didn’t affect anybody. We will work as normal now. It won’t affect anybody bar that I am unable to select a very good player.

“For everyone, we all want the situation resolved as soon as we possibly can.”

It had already been an eventful week at St Mirren with the departure of assistant manager Diarmuid O’Carroll to become lead coach of Newcastle Under-21s. Former Albion Rovers manager and Motherwell assistant Brian Kerr has stepped into his place.

Robinson said: “Diarmuid’s been fantastic for the club, he has been very good for me, he’s been with me since Motherwell.

“But it’s an opportunity at one of the richest clubs in the world, one of the biggest clubs in the world, and it was too good to turn down. Diarmuid goes with our best wishes.

“Hopefully we can get a little bit of a partnership with Newcastle now as well and steal some of their players.

“And I have no doubt that if he chooses to he could go on to be a very good manager one day if he’s crazy enough to put himself in that position.

“We had Brian Kerr in for the last 18 months and he’s been working with the first team for the last year so this isn’t a huge step up for Brian.

“He’s got vast experience in the game as a player at very good levels, he’s worked as an assistant manager in the SPFL and the players know him well. It’s an easy transition.

“We will make an announcement next week on who is stepping into the first-team development role.”