Open and interesting race to Scottish Premier League
Young guns to light up first division
By ROSS DUNBAR
THE Scottish First Division will be one of the most open and interesting leagues we have had in Scotland for a long time.
With one promotion place available to the Scottish Premier League, there will be some unhappy fans at a number of other clubs but the fierce competition to reach the stage of top-flight football will have them engrossed over the next year.
One of the most interesting aspects about the First Division next season will be in the dug-out and the wave of young managers in the Scottish Football League.
When we think of top Scottish managers, the names such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Walter Smith and possibly even the likes of former national team coach Craig Brown come to mind in a domestic sense.
However, the new breed of Scottish coaches are beginning to get the recognition they deserve, as Owen Coyle has shown in the English Premier League with Bolton.
The average age of the nine coaches – excluding the Queen of the South position which is still vacant - in the First Division is 40. The youngest being newly-appointed Ross County boss Derek Adams who is just 35 years old.
The increasing number of young coaches follows a similar trend to that in Germany where the two main governing bodies have been highly praised for their improvements in nurturing coaches who leave the professional game early in their careers.
Dunfermline coach Jim McIntyre led his side to a stunning title triumph at just 38 and will be testing himself against the likes of Ally McCoist and Neil Lennon next term. His promotion challengers, Falkirk and Raith, are coached by two fairly polar-opposite managers in Steven Pressley and John McGlynn.
Pressley, at just 37, has brought a surprising charisma and positive football style to the Bairns – unusual considering he was a ruthless centre-half in his playing career. Raith boss John McGlynn enjoyed a superb season at Starks Park and his effective style of winning led him to picking up the Manager of the Year a few weeks ago.
Derek Adams is beginning his second spell at Ross County following a surprise move to Easter Road to be Colin Calderwood’s assistant coach. Adams led County to the Scottish Cup final in 2010 and at 35, is the youngest coach in the First Division.
Both Jackie McNamara and Barry Smith are 37-years-old and have swapped the boots for the tracksuits as they take charge of Partick Thistle and Dundee respectively.
The First Division welcomes three new coaching additions, all of them having different routes to the second-tier of Scottish Football. Hamilton boss Billy Reid is back in SFL1 following relegation from the Scottish Premier League and optimism is high at New Douglas Park that the 47-year-old can nurture a new group of young players to steer Accies back to the SPL.
Coming from the Second Division is Livingston’s Gary Bollan and Ayr United’s Brian Reid. Bollan has been in charge of Livingston since 2009 and has led Livi to two consecutive promotions at just 38 years of age.
He is joined by the Honest men’s Brian Reid, a former Rangers defender, who secured his side’s place in the First Division with a dramatic win over Brechin City in the play-offs. Reid is two years older than Bollan and will be looking to consolidate Ayr’s place in the First Division next season.
That leaves just Allan Moore of Greenock Morton who is the second oldest coach in the league at 46 years of age.
But the trend of the First Division seems to be random with only two managers in the Second Division below the age of 40 – one of them newly-promoted Arbroath coach Paul Sheerin.
Another factor in the emergence of young coaches is the patience shown by certain clubs last season. Some Falkirk fans were calling for Pressley’s sacking but to their credit, the Bairns ignored those calls and they will be in contention for promotion next season.
As much as talk is focused on development of players and league reconstruction, more young coaches in Scottish Football can only serve as a positive thing for our game with new ideas coming to the fore.
