I’ve lost count of my Talbot winners gongs but I almost didn’t take the job
Legend Sloan reveals dilemma
HE’S the man with the Midas touch in junior football.
The most successful manager the grade has known has just completed another treble by adding the Scottish Cup to the Premiership and League Cup trophies already safely tucked away in the cabinet.
Tommy Sloan couldn’t tell you how many winners’ medals he’s collected in 16 years as Auchinleck boss such is his focus on moving forward.
But his trademark grin as he held aloft the most sought-after trophy in the juniors on Sunday after his side saw off Largs 2-0 is becoming an all-too familiar sight for rival clubs.
It was the final piece of a stunning season which also saw Talbot dump high-flying Ayr in the “big” Scottish Cup in front of the live TV cameras – the club’s greatest ever result according to most locals.
Incredible as it might seem, Sloan’s mesmerising Talbot odyssey might never have been if it wasn’t for the persistence of the committee.
The man better known as Tucker might well qualify for understatement of the century as he said: “Things are going pretty well right now.
“But it’s not always been like that, we’ve had people question us and we’ve been unpopular. Right from the start people were saying I wouldn’t last a fortnight. I almost never took the job in the first place.
“I was player-coach at Ardrossan and was coaching with Ayr United’s Under-15s. I was happy with that.
“Auchinleck phoned me to see if I’d be interested in replacing Tam McDonald and I remember saying no. They were going through a sticky patch but their fans were used to winning the big trophies. It was quite a daunting prospect so I just left it.
“A couple of weeks later they came back again.
“We agreed to meet at the Failford Inn near Mauchline which is a wee place where my mum used to work. Whether that played a part in making me feel at home with them I couldn’t tell you but it was a masterstroke from secretary Henry Dumigan!
“There was no pressure put on me, no targets set, and my mind started to change. I phoned my wife who was pregnant with my daughter Melissa at the time and asked her if she was okay with me taking the job.
“She replied, ‘You’ve always done what you want with football anyway so why change now?’ That was the green light and the rest is history.”
Impressive history at that. Sloan genuinely doesn’t know how many trophies he’s won in those 16 years but when it comes to the big ones – the Junior Cup and the Premiership it’s a different matter.
The seven cup triumphs and six top-flight titles make him and Talbot the benchmark for every club in the juniors if not the Scottish non-league.
And he’s had opportunities to move to the professional ranks.
Stranraer – where the former striker remains a goalscoring legend – tried to tempt him away from Beechwood twice but both times Sloan, now 54, decided to remain at Auchinleck and doesn’t regret that for a minute.
Not that he would rule out a move to the seniors in the future.
He said: “The first time I got approached we were in the Final of the Junior Cup for the first time in my reign and about to play Bathgate.
“We had a good side building and it was all just starting to click.
“There were grumblings going round I was leaving. It didn’t sit right with me. I couldn’t allow that to affect the build-up to the Final so I had to take my name out the running.
“They came back a few years later but it was a similar story as we were on the verge of something special.
“It’s been a decade now and it’s proved to be a great decision.
“You never say never in football but I have a good job here and a brilliant committee. Every week I still get the same buzz for training. Key to success for me has been getting players in with the right character.
“Players have to be willing to work their a**e off. We pride ourselves in having training sessions where there’s no messing about. We go full throttle, hard and put our boot in. It’s worked pretty well up to now.”