IAN McCALL is excited to watch his Partick Thistle side return to action tomorrow against Cove Rangers after last weekend’s matches were postponed due to the Queen’s death – although he hopes his opposite number on the touchline doesn’t hold a grudge.
Jim McIntyre, the Cove manager, has crossed paths with McCall before. Back in 2004, the latter was the manager of Dundee United when the Tayside club were struggling financially and a pay cut had to be imposed on top earners.
McCall himself had to reduce his wages and informed senior members of his team – including McIntyre – that they would have to follow suit; a decision that wasn’t exactly popular at the time.
Now, as the two managers prepare to meet tomorrow afternoon at Firhill, McCall is looking forward to the reunion as he poured cold water on the notion that Cove are struggling to adapt to life in the Championship.
“I had Jim at United – him and [Inverness manager Billy] Dodds, [Kilmarnock boss Derek] McInnes too. He was a good centre-forward. I used to always say he should have done far more in his career because he had a lot of really, really good qualities. He hated me saying it right enough!
“He was one of the many ones that fell out with me after I cut all their wages but whether that was my fault or not, I don’t know. But a good player and a good man.
“I think, reading between the lines with Doddsy, he had maybe resigned himself. What they did at Ross County [winning the League Cup] was pretty special but maybe he had resigned himself. But he has got a chance at a good club, one that are building.
“I think Cove have went a bit quicker than they thought they would but it’s great to see him back. He’s a good guy.”
Cove have certainly wasted no time in shooting up the SPFL since gaining promotion to League Two in 2019. McCall feels the north east club’s progression has perhaps been a little faster than they will have envisaged but he is in little doubt that they will find their feet in the second tier before long.
With one victory in their opening six games, Cove sit in ninth place in the table but McCall does not expect them to remain there.
“They are only a couple of results away from the top four,” the Jags manager pointed out. “I think they have had one or two little injuries to key players – they’ve got a centre-forward there [Mitch Megginson] who’s missed a couple of games that I think is terrific, I’ve got similar views on him that I have on Tam O’Brien. I think he could play at a few places.
“And obviously they lost one of their best players [left-back Harry Milne] to us. It’s been a tough time for Jim to go in but he is very experienced and I’m sure he will handle it.”
Last weekend’s interruption to the Championship campaign wasn’t exactly welcome for Thistle, who had been on a good run before their top-of-the-table clash with Ayr United was postponed. Maintaining that momentum, McCall insists, is vital.
He said: “People talk about consistency – we have played 11 games and we have won nine, drawn one and lost one. So that’s pretty consistent. It’s a matter of keeping that going.
“I remember playing Cove three times in League One and they were the only team we didn’t beat. We got a very, very important draw up there towards the end of the season.
“There has been a little break but it has been the same for everybody – probably rightly so, I’ve got to say. We need to keep the momentum up and respect every single team that we play because it is going to be very hard. It is never easy to win a football match because there are 11 players trying to stop you doing it.
“It will be a really difficult game – the ones that people think you might win are always really hard. We are very much looking forward to it. We have no injuries whatsoever so touch wood that stays the same until Saturday. The games at Firhill have been really good this season and long may that continue.”
McCall and his coaching staff will be aware of Cove’s strengths and weaknesses ahead of tomorrow’s match but as usual, the focus will be on Thistle imposing their game on their opponents, rather than a reactive approach based on what the other team will offer. It is the only way McCall knows how to work.
“It’s something I’ve always done really,” he explained. “The only time I can really remember focusing more on the opposition was playing Celtic or Rangers when I was at Dundee United, and they were good teams at the time. That was Martin O’Neil’s team and Alex McLeish’s team.
“But other than that, at a lot of the clubs I’ve been at, even Ayr United – who hadn’t had a great time of it for a few years – I just totally focused on us. You get your reports and you know if there are any particular things they do, key men, certain areas to exploit and all that. But it is very much about trying to think about what we can do.
“I always thought when I was coming through as a player that the coaches always concentrated on what I couldn’t do rather than what I could do, and I’ve taken that into management.”
