When going gets tough.. gets going
McCall’s up for clash with his old pal
IAN McCALL will relish a reunion with old pal Jim Duffy on the touchline and hopefully a cuppa after it that has him chuckling like Ally McCoist did.
The Partick Thistle boss will be the first to welcome Ayr’s new gaffer as the latest member of the Championship managerial club.
Former Dumbarton and Morton gaffer Duffy was yesterday handed the reins on a permanent basis until the end of the season after guiding Ayr to a four-game unbeaten run following the resignation of David Hopkin.
For McCall, it’s a chance not only to be reunited with the Somerset club that handed him a return to the dugout but with a friend who little over a year ago was recovering from a heart attack.
He’s hoping that chewing the fat isn’t a thing of the past after recalling Coisty’s cracker from 13 years ago.
McCall said: “Jim’s just a really good football guy, it’s obviously a club I have got huge affection for.
“Whether I helped Ayr is up for debate but I know that they helped me in a difficult time in my life. I will never, ever forget that.
“I have not spoken to Duff for a wee while. When he had his problems I dropped him a text and spoke to him. He basically bragged he needs to stay off the Buckfast and the fags, which as you know Duff is teetotal, lives his life really well and is a non-smoker, so it came as a shock to him.
“We’ll have a chat but it is different now with Covid. Even before Covid I noticed only so many managers have been going in after the game.
“It’s a thing that is dying out but I’d like to think it won’t.
“We played Rangers in a League Cup game in 2008 and Kris Boyd scored, then Steven McEwan equalised.
“David Rowson was one on one with the goalie with a minute to go and didn’t finish it. They went up the park,
Pedro Mendes scored a belter and they beat us 2-1.
“After the game I was sitting in the office, me John Henry, I think Gerry (Britton) was my assistant at the time, and Walter, Kenny Mac, Durrant and Coisty.
“McCoist had played in a benefit game the week before just after his 45th birthday and he had scored a hat-trick in it.
“There was a big silence in the office, Walter knew I was gutted. McCoist pipes up, ‘Cally... do you think there is a better over-45 footballer in the world than me right now?’. That lightened the mood.”
Duffy admits he’s impressed by Thistle. He said: “I watched them a few weeks ago and they were terrific, They have real quality across the pitch.”