BIG NAMES IN LINE FOR KILBY JOB
Search is on for boss who can lift club
East Kilbride are on the hunt for a new manager this week after Stuart Malcolm was appointed gaffer at League One Forfar Athletic.
There had been calls for Malcolm, who won the Lowland League with EK last season, to be sacked in recent weeks following a nightmare start to the season. But on Sunday Malcolm (left) pulled off a surprise move to the club he captained as a player after convincing the Loons hierarchy he is the man to lead them off the bottom of the league. Malcolm’s replacement at K-Park will now have to pick up the pieces with EK sitting eighth in the table and 16 points off the pace set by leaders Kelty Hearts.
Among the names being tipped as possible successors are current Civil Service Strollers boss Gary Jardine, who led Edinburgh City out of the Lowland League in 2015/16 and won two Lowland League titles.
Jardine has enjoyed a good start to the season with Strollers, who sit fifth on a smidgen of Kilby’s budget, and is highly thought of at K-Park.
Former Dumbarton boss Stevie Aitken – understood to have missed out on the Forfar job – has been out of the game for over a year and a move to K-Park could provide a way back.
He teamed up with Rangers hero Ian Durrant at the Rock and Durrant could either throw his hat into the ring or try to rekindle his partnership with Aitken.
However, Durrant, a familiar face around K-Park at home matches, is close friends with the Kilby owners and that may put both parties off a working relationship.
A favourite among the fans for the role is Brian Kerr, who managed the club briefly at the start of last season before joining Gary Caldwell’s backroom team for an ill-fated spell at Partick Thistle. But Kerr has distanced himself from the position this week, telling the News: “If East Kilbride felt they wanted to ask the question, that’s up to them, but I wouldn’t be putting my name forward, as such.”
As the News went to press, coaches Dean Shanks and Jim Paterson were set to take charge of Kilby for last night’s East of Scotland Cup clash at home to Tynecastle, but the club could not confirm who would take the team for Saturday’s Lowland League visit of Gretna.
Next weekend Kilby face a trip to Aberdeenshire when they take on Formartine United in round three of the Scottish Cup and the club would look to have an appointment, interim or otherwise, by then.
A spokesman for EKFC said: “East Kilbride FC can confirm that manager Stuart Malcolm has left the club to take over as manager of Forfar Athletic.
“The club will now commence the search for a new manager at K-Park, with more details to follow.”
Stuart Malcolm insists he regrets not being able to stick around at East Kilbride to lead them out of the Lowland League.
The 40-year-old left the club on Sunday to take up the managerial position at League One Forfar Athletic, leaving Kilby eighth in the table and 16 points adrift of leaders Kelty Hearts.
For all his struggles at K-Park this season and calls for him to be sacked, Malcolm has managed to bag himself a job two divisions above EK after being named as Jim Weir’s successor at Station Park.
The chance to return to the club he captained as a player was too good to turn down, but he admits he leaves Kilby wondering what might have been after taking the club backwards since winning the league last season.
He said: “I wanted to be up there challenging this season.
“We were trying to alter the way we were playing and that had an effect on performances and results.
“There was games there that we really should have won. Games where teams had one shot on target against us and we’d lose them.
“But at the end of the day, it’s all about winning.
“There’s a good group of players at East Kilbride and there’s no question they should be higher up the table.
“We’ve seen over the last three weeks that the intensity and hunger has ignited again. We missed that at the start of the season.
”Do I have regrets? I have regrets that I couldn’t get them over the line last season to the next level.
“I would have loved to have got promoted with East Kilbride, but this was just too good an opportunity.
“Now I have been offered the opportunity to go to the next level, but I’ve left behind a fantastic squad and a great club that’s supported me since I walked through the door.”
Malcolm’s summer recruitment was one of his key failings this season. He did not adequately replace the experience of David Proctor and the raw talent of Craig Howie in the centre of defence and early season striking options like Ewan Macpherson and Ross Kavanagh didn’t fit the bill.
He added: “It’s a very difficult level to get players to.
“There was a couple of players we identified over the summer that we were very close to getting and they would have made a huge difference.
“The calibre of player they were would have made a difference, but we were competing against League One clubs to try and get them.
“We spoke to them, but it didn’t transpire and it would have helped us for this season.
“We were probably a couple of players short for what we needed.”
There were, of course, a few highs for Malcolm during almost 18-months at K-Park, where he first served as assistant to Brian Kerr before taking the reigns in October last year.
Malcolm guided the squad to a league title last season and the South Challenge Cup, as well as leading them to the fourth round of the Scottish Cup and the SPFL play-off, where they lost to Cove Rangers.
”I’ve never been one for anything about me, it’s always been about the team achievements,” said Malcolm, reflecting on his highlights at K-Park.
“The team winning the league with three games to go, which is an incredible achievement at any level of football, is a big one. That was a massive moment for all the boys and it was a pleasing way to win it.
“The Cove game, believe it or not, is a fond memory. That first leg, with the late goal from Jamie Longworth, gave us a real fighting chance and it kept us right in the tie, but it wasn’t to be.
“Winning the South Challenge Cup against Bonnyrigg last season was great as well and taking the team up to Inverness and to the fourth round of the Scottish Cup for only the second time in their history was good as well. Then there’s the friends that I’ve made in terms of the board and the committee – I’ve got loads of fond memories.”
A tougher task awaits Malcolm as he heads north to Angus. Forfar are bottom of League One and have lost six on the bounce.
“It’s a completely different challenge to EK,” he acknowledged.
“We need to stop conceding goals, we have to make them resilient, try and minimise the goals we are conceding.
“I’m looking forward to it.”