Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
McBride keeps his powder dry
A penny for the thoughts of Kevin McBride today.
Everybody and their Diamonds dog has had a say on the revolving door swinging into action at New Broomfield.
But the 35-year-old has so far kept his powder dry.
McBride’s silence thus far speaks volumes for he will, no doubt, feel angry and hurt at the way he’s been treated.
He took the job of head coach as May became June but found himself surplus to requirements by the end of October.
The former Dundee and Hibernian midfielder leaves Airdrie in fourth place in League One on the back of three wins in four games.
There is a certain irony in the fact that his time as head coach came to an end the day after his side produced the type of winning performance that is often required in this brutal division.
The 1-0 victory at East Fife saw the Diamonds pass a stern test — they were hard-working, organised, mature, resilient and stubborn.
And when an early chance fell, it was snaffled by hot-shot Andy Ryan.
If a team is an image of their manager, then McBride will leave Airdrie in the knowledge that he had a group of players who cracked it at New Bayview on Saturday.
And leaving Airdrie looked a distinct outcome when Gordon Dalziel arrived to carry out a ‘football review’.
McBride refused to discuss Dalziel’s role and whether or not he’d still be picking the team.
It fell to Dalziel to give that assurance but it was a bad start for the review.
McBride, a man who keeps his cards close to his chest, did not appear comfortable with Dalziel’s involvement.
He wanted to do the job his way and that he did until he was called on Sunday and told he was no longer head coach.
The uncertainty created in the last fortnight has allowed rumours to fly.
On the Thursday before the Queen’s Park game, a fan asked if the players had walked out of training and were on strike. That wasn’t true. Last Tuesday night, I received messages from fans saying McBride had been sacked.
The man himself said he had not. In fact, he was at the club’s Under-20s game the next evening and, lo and behold, was in the dugout at East Fife.
Were the club planning to make a change by the middle of last week? You can judge for yourself.
Some social-media comments have criticised the standard of training, claiming the players are hardly at Ravenscraig.
But last week was a ‘normal’week — the squad trained Monday, was put through the mill on Tuesday, had a day off on Wednesday and then prepared for the game Thursday and Friday.
These preparations included set-piece work and Airdrie scored their winning goal at East Fife from a free-kick that had been practised in training.
On Sunday night, when I heard McBride had been axed, I called him up.
“I can’t comment at this time,”he said.“You will have to take your questions to the club.”
A silent end to a mad six months for McBride.