Mckenzie is handed the reins at Yowes
New Lanark United boss Jamie Mckenzie won’t bomb players out of the club, but does expect them to fight for their place.
Mckenzie and Gary Johnston are the dug-out duo in charge at Moor Park after being appointed on Monday and intend to take the Yowes as high up the West of Scotland League Conference C table as they can.
For that to happen they want to make sure everybody is as competitive as possible, and prevent any complacency creeping in.
But former Gartcairn gaffer Mckenzie does intend to bring in his own players with an eye on next season and, hopefully, a return to normality.
Mckenzie, who oversaw a 2-1 win at home to St Anthony’s on Saturday as Hugh Kerr and Mark Haddow took the team for the clash, said: “Lanark are a good club, it’s a good set-up, they have a good pitch, and I watched them on Saturday – they’ve got a decent enough squad.
“I know a number of the players, and I think every manager will bring in his own guys and what I will do is press them by bringing players in.
“I’m not saying they will be in a comfort zone and know they’re going to be playing, but I’ll have people there ready to push them and nobody will know they’ll start any game.
“Hopefully myself and Gary can go in there and add our wee bit to it, and through time maybe add one or two wee bits of quality in areas where we need it.
“It’s about being competitive and making sure nobody becomes complacent, so we can continually become better.”
Mckenzie is looking forward to getting stuck in at Lanark and wants to get them taking as many points as possible.
He said: “I was first-team coach at Cambuslang at the start of the season and with them pulling out, I wouldn’t say I was looking for a job, but when I took the call last week it was something I started thinking seriously about.
“Thankfully, we’ve managed to get something sorted out, so I’m looking forward to getting started.
“They’re a progressive club and that’s something I wanted; to go and help push a club forward and try to get them up there challenging at the top end of the league.
“I think there will be one eye on that and another on building for next year and normality, when hopefully we can become competitive again.
“Hopefully we can get a running start on the other teams who have pulled out and we’ll be ready to hit the ground running at the start of the new season, but certainly being competitive this season and finishing as high as we can is the aim.”
Mckenzie and Johnston will take charge for the first time when they travel to Glasgow Perthshire on December 5 and he is expecting a tough task.
He said: “There aren’t many more difficult places to go than Perthshire, they’re always a very tough task, especially at their place.
“My plan is to oversee training and take input from Hugh Kerr and Mark Haddow, who took us for the last two games.
“I’ll still be putting my mark on it, and we will be looking to go to Glasgow Perthshire and come back out with a result.”