Rutherglen Glencairn president Elizabeth Allan is delighted to see manager Willie Harvey back in the dug-out – but she’s just glad he is back around the club.
Glens were largely managed for the first half of their West of Scotland Premier Division season by assistant Joe Pryce, as Harvey battled a bad bout of Covid.
The Rutherglen boss was struck down in September with the virus and became hospitalised. He decided he would only return for the first game of 2022 and is now fully back into the swing of things.
It was his longest spell out of football and Allan says it was an emotional struggle for everyone associated with the club. But the work of Pryce, Stevie Hutchison and Stevie Aitchison ensured there was no disruption on the pitch.
She said: “From the club point view, the big thing was the manager’s struggle with Covid. We were fortunate in that the whole backroom staff is such a good team that works like a team.
“The players were in such good hands while the manager was seriously indisposed. All the coaches were just brilliant. They knew exactly what to do, because they were such a team.
“They knew exactly how things were meant to be. It was possibly less disruptive than it would have been otherwise, had we not had that strong team ethos we had with the management team at the club.
“The management team and the club have huge links together. It adds to the whole emotional element as well because he is such a big presence.
“The day-to-day running of the team, taking the training, choosing the team, the backroom team and manager all work together on that. So it was as good as it could be.”
Harvey was put under no pressure to come back by Rutherglen Glencairn, who were keen for him to come back at a time that suited him.
Allan says it was a club effort to make sure the pandemic’s impacts weren’t felt too hard this season without a manager, and she’s been pleased by how things have worked out.
She added: “We were delighted when he even came back to matches to watch and build up gradually. So that was great to see him coming back to matches and getting physically better each time you saw him at the games.
“Obviously everyone at the club was just delighted when the manager started appearing back at matches. He knew the team was in capable hands.
“There was no pressure on him to get back. There was no concern over that. He didn’t need to keep things going as the backroom team are so used to working with each other.
“Throughout the whole crazy pandemic, the committee has also pulled together very strongly to help comply with all the fixtures that had to be put in place. That was all done to keep everyone safe.”
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