The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Barry Smith loving life as a manager at a full-time club
Kirkcaldy: Smith refuses to let anyone rest on their laurels
Raith boss Barry Smith admits he is revelling in being a manager at a full-time club once more.
The 43-year-old joined Rovers from part-time East Fife during the summer with the Kirkcaldy outfit determined to bounce back up to the Championship at the first time of asking.
Smith has overseen a fantastic start to his side’s League 1 campaign with Raith top of the table having won six and drawn one of their first seven games.
However, the manager will certainly not allow anyone at the club to rest on their laurels.
He said: “I think anyone who knows me realises that I wanted to get back into fulltime football management. The team is in a good place at the moment, we are doing well and the boys have bought into the way we want to play and get results.
“When you are winning, you are always happy but that doesn’t mean we will stagnate – we always want to get better. But for me, being back in full-time football is massive.
“Working with the players on a daily basis is obviously a lot better than just seeing them a couple of nights a week.
“The fact we have more time to work on things, you can see more of it happening on the pitch. But again, that’s credit to the players for listening and taking on board what we are telling them.”
Smith also paid tribute to his coaching staff, insisting that Kevin Cuthbert, Scott Robertson and Craig Easton have been an invaluable help to him.
Smith added: “The good thing is everybody has an opinion and everybody thinks differently. We all have our own ideas.
“There have been times in games where there have been suggestions from Robbo, Craig and Kevin and they have been good ones and helped us get a victory. As a manager, you don’t always see everything and you need guys to look at things slightly differently.
“They are not scared to give an opinion and I am happy for them to do that.”