Manson the man for all seasons at Wick

Wick Academy defender Alan Farquhar hailed Gary Manson as the right man for the job after the club’s record appearance-holder was named interim manager yesterday.

Alongside Stewart Ross, who made nearly 200 appearances across two playing spells with Wick, Manson will take charge of the Scorries until the end of the Highland League campaign.

The duo take over from Tom McKenna, who handed in his resignation to the club’s board a week ago with the side sitting in mid-table.

Farquhar has played alongside Manson in the Wick defence for the last 10 years and can think of few better figures suited to take the club forward.

He said: “I don’t think you can ask for much better. Gary has been there for 20 years and has all the experience of playing, while he’s now doing his coaching as well. It’s a good basis to work from and being local, it’ll be a big help with developing and finding players.

“It’s a great choice by the club putting him in charge. Gary and Stewart have never managed before, so it’s a big test in that respect, but we had our first training session with them on Tuesday night and it went well.

“I would think it’d be quite hard to play and coach but we’re quite limited defensively, so he’ll probably help out in that position for now and, in the long-term, maybe look at stepping back.”

Manson said earlier this month that the club was coming to a crucial period, where they would need to look at how they approached the future.

Both he and chairman Pat Miller have expressed a desire to look at the club’s youth set-up, putting something in place to help bridge the gap between the under17s and the first team.