Born-again Fyvie hopes all his hard graft will culminate in strong performance
STILL only 28, Fraser Fyvie is selling PPE to supplement his income as a part-time footballer with Cove
Rangers.
If only there had been some form of personal protective equipment available to spare him the knee injuries that forced his retreat from full-time football.
A cup winner on either side of the border with Wigan in 2013 and then Hibs in 2016, Fyvie returns to the big stage at Ibrox this afternoon.
He had to confront reality after snapping a cruciate during his second season with Dundee United, an event that ultimately led to him being released in the summer of 2019.
He considered quitting altogether but, back in his hometown of Aberdeen, he found a way to both forge a new career path and continue a meaningful attachment to the professional game.
In Cove he found an ambitious club new to League Two and set on a journey of self-improvement. And with local firm North East Rig-Out he was pitched into a new line of work that was about to get seriously busy when the pandemic hit last year.
‘I had to get myself a job when I came out of full-time football and the transition is not easy,’ muses Fyvie.
‘I’ve been really unfortunate with injuries and that has hindered my football but I am enjoying myself at Cove. It’s a good club to be at.
‘It’s tough trying to combine a nine-to-five job with playing but for much of the past year I’ve been on furlough from the football.
‘In terms of PPE, it’s been pretty busy. Last February and March, everybody was panicking and companies were ordering lots for their staff.
‘But a lot of PPE companies probably started to struggle a little bit because of the supply chain — it was hard to get hold of stuff and the NHS were, of course, snapping up so much.’
As the country’s medical emergency has receded, so football has returned to the lower leagues, albeit in stop-start fashion.
To say Cove enter today’s game at a massive disadvantage is beyond understatement.
After ten weeks out through the Scottish Government’s winter lockdown, the League One side have played only three competitive games since returning to action and manager Paul Hartley has conceded that he has no choice but to rest players for today’s daunting Scottish Cup tie against Rangers.
Ibrox might be the bigger
of the two matches, but Tuesday night’s league clash at Clyde is more important, another crucial staging post on the club’s promotion bid.
By comparison, Rangers have been motoring like a well-oiled machine all season and Steven Gerrard has vowed to prioritise the cup after landing the Premiership title.
‘We are used to being underdogs, even in the league,’ insists Fyvie. ‘The main aim for the club this year was to make sure we were still in League One next season.
‘Obviously, we have now found ourselves in a spot where we could possibly go and get promotion but Falkirk are favourites and, as the other full-time team, you’d expect Partick Thistle to be up there, too.
‘I’m just glad to be back playing again because I had started to think it wasn’t going to happen.
‘We had a good performance against Airdrie in midweek and now we go to play against the best team in Scotland. It’s free hit for us where we are but we want to go and put on a performance.
‘The job Steven Gerrard has done, not only recruitment-wise but in terms of improving players has been remarkable.
‘A good friend of mine, Ryan Jack, is the perfect example of that.’
Troubled by a longstanding knee complaint, Jack has been missing for club and country and, while the national team took part in its opening World Cup qualifiers, he was in
London seeing a specialist.
Given his own historic injury problems, Fyvie can only empathise and he is hoping Jack recovers to make it into Steve Clarke’s squad for Euro 2020.
‘It will be good for Rangers to get Ryan fit again because he only adds to the team,’ says Fyvie.
‘Under Steven Gerrard, he has really gone to that next level. He has become a Scotland international and, when fit, has cemented his place in the national team.’