Scott relishes reunion with old pal McGuinness at Valefield Park
ROBERT Scott could have been excused for allowing himself a smile as he walked off Valefield on Saturday in the aftermath of Kilbirnie Ladeside’s 2-1 West of Scotland Cup victory over Petershill.
And with good reason after his caretaker stint in the aftermath of Budgie McGhie recently tendering his resignation finished on a high ahead of the arrival of newly appointed boss Liam McGuinness last night.
No introductions were necessary for 35-year-old Scott, a long-time friend of McGuinness and someone more than willing to be part of the new man’s backroom team along with fellow coach Stevie McCreadie and No 2 Mark Campbell.
Scott said: “Liam and I grew up together and we have often talked about working together if the opportunity ever arose and at long last this is it.
“I had actually come in to coach at Kilbirnie last season under Budgie and was thoroughly enjoying myself until I decided to move on after being offered a job with Kilmarnock and I only returned a few weeks ago to help the club out while the search was ongoing for a new manager.
“There was no indication of Liam coming onto the scene at that point so first thing I did was to bring on board Stevie whom I have known since we previously worked together at Ayr United.
“Some people might have thought me out of my depth because I have no great Junior experience so it was crucial to show we knew what we were doing and slowly but surely we have got our message across of how the team must play.
“Our showing against Petershill was tremendous.”
New gaffer McGuinness had set up a meeting of his Kilbirnie backroom team last night with the intention of obtaining an exchange of views on the team’s perceived strengths and weaknesses.
Scott said: “Liam is very much his own man but I think he’ll soon discover that he’s inherited a really good bunch of players.
“The only change we made from the Glenafton defeat was to bring back Mick O’Byrne into central defence.”
Hosting runaway league leaders Hurlford United promises to be a baptism of fire for McGuinness.