Ruthless ROVERS
‘Giving Rangers a fright is one thing but we finished seventh in League Two and that’s just unacceptable’
IT’S not often Albion Rovers send tremors across Scottish football — but that’s exactly what they did in March when the Clifton hill part-timers from Scottish football’s lowest tier were just 12 minutes from eliminating Rangers in a Scottish Cup quarter-final at Ibrox.
There was a similar, if not so well publicised, aftershock earlier this month when the Coatbridge club announced they had sacked the manager responsible for their best run in the tournament since 1936.
Not only was James Ward brutally binned despite steering the club to its biggest payday — earning £400,000 before losing to Rangers in a replay — his bulleting came just weeks after he had penned a one-year contract extension and signed 15 new players for the coming season.
In his place have come rookie boss Darren Young, the former Aberdeen and Dunfermline midfielder, and experienced sidekick Sandy Clark.
On the back of Ward’ s achievements, Rovers had garnered bucket-loads of positive publicity on their way to the last- eight, especially after donating £10,000 of their cup cash to a children’s charity.
His abrupt departure shone a less favourable spotlight on the uncharacteristic ruthlessness of Rovers, as Ward bemoaned his ‘shock’ and ‘surprise’ at being shown the door after a run that also saw Motherwell eliminated.
Yesterday, however, as new boss Young was paraded, the impressively plain-speaking Rovers chairman John Devlin set the record straight in pretty damning fashion.
For al l t he pl audits t hat accompanied their best cup run in 78 years, last season’s seventh-place finish in League Two was deemed ‘unacceptable’.
The t e am’s e nd- of- s e ason performances, after Ward had signed his new deal, were deemed as particularly unappetising.
As the mastermind behind the club’s much-lauded ‘pay what you can afford’ season-ticket offer, Devlin feared new fans lured in would not be hurrying back to watch an unattractive style of football.
‘We had renewed a contract with James Ward and we were pretty set at that time with James taking us into the new season,’ revealed Devlin. ‘But discussions about the way we were playing led us to go for someone with a bit more ambition and passion about playing positive football.
‘I’m sure it does look strange but we are very grateful (to Ward) for the run last season. It’s now about looking forward, not back.
‘We underachieved last season in the league. Finishing seventh was unacceptable for Albion Rovers.
‘We needed to be at least in the play-offs. We are doing a lot here to attract new fans to Cliftonhill and, once we do that, we need to keep them here.
‘The product on the park needs to stand up. We want to play a more entertaining, expansive style of football — a more positive style than we have been playing.
‘I look at the World Cup and it’s a revelation what’s happening in Brazil. Teams seem to have the shackles off and they are going forward. Football in general is too risk- averse. There should be incentives for teams to score goals, like there is in rugby.’
Under Ward, Devlin claimed he could not rule out the threat of ‘oblivion’, namely falling out of the bottom tier as part of Scottish football’s new pyramid structure being introduced next season.
He wants Young and Clark, who was assistant to Allan Johnston at Kilmarnock last season, to bring the thrills back to Cliftonhill and take Rovers out of the gutter and looking up at the stars.
Asked how Young can top last season’s cup heroics, Devlin said: ‘By getting promoted! That was our aim last season, too.
‘The Cup run was a bonus and we will never forget it but we are in the lowest league in Scottish football and the pyramid system comes in this coming season. There’s a trap door to oblivion there. We need to guard against that but also need to push forward.
‘We were attracted to Darren’s exceptional playing qualities, his passion, ambition and the way he wants his teams to play football. Sandy will be the experienced older man to guide him through his first role as a manager. It’s an ambitious appointment.’
Next season will see Young go head-to-head with his former Ibrox sparring partner Barry Ferguson, now player-manager of Clyde. The 35-year-old hopes to emulate the success of Paul Hartley — his former boss at Alloa — now in the Premiership with Dundee having similarly started out on the bottom rung at Recreation Park.
‘I’ve always regarded myself as a winner and hopefully I can carry that into management,’ said Young, who played for Queen of the South in the Championship last season.
‘I am starting out in a lower league and, hopefully, working my way up. This is a great opportunity and I’m just as ambitious as the chairman.
‘I’m also delighted to get Sandy on board because he will be the best signing I ever make.
‘Rovers had some good results in the Cup last season but hopefully we can improve. I want to do that by getting the ball down and playing attacking, exciting football.’