‘The future of the club is looking really good’ – Ross County chief executive Steven Ferguson and first team interim manager Don Cowie among panel questioned by fans at end-of-season awards
As part of the Ross County Supporters’ Club end-of-season awards, a panel of club employees faced a Q&A from the fans in attendance.
Club chief executive Steven Ferguson, first team interim manager Don Cowie, commercial manager Duncan Chisholm and supporter liaison officers Kenny Maclennan and Shaun Campbell were all up for questions, and they were faced with a range of questions.
Cowie named Manchester City legend David Silva as the best player he had swapped shirts with in his playing days and the role and impact of social media on the football club was debated.
With the season drawing to a close, one of the topics supporters wanted to know more about was potential recruitment over the summer, which Ferguson admitted was a never-ending process, answering: “Recruitment never stops. There is always a discussion around profiling as we call it.
“The manager knows what type of profile he wants in a player, and you don’t just flick on a switch when you’re recruiting, you go back into data and matches over a fair period of time.
“If a manager then identifies that he wants a centre half who is 6’3 minimum, quick, good at defending his goal, we would then look to get four or five options that fit that profile.
“The manager will always make the final decision, because it’s his responsibility to pick the team and it’s his neck on the line, but the staff will all contribute to getting that list of four or five. Then it’s a case of identifying who our number one target is, who number two is and so on.
“It’s always ongoing. We may have enquired about someone three windows ago, who is now out of contract and we haven’t written them off.
“Ross Callachan is one example. Stuart (Kettlewell) and I tried to sign him a couple of times when he was leaving Hearts and St Johnstone, and we weren’t able to do it. He was always on Ross County’s radar, so we revisited that and I think the deal was actually done before Malky (Mackay) came in.
“The profile is so important, and that’s around the style and identity that the manager wants.
“People say you can’t get players up here – you can, but they might not be the right player. The detail that all of the staff is involved in bringing together is to see if we can get the best possible option to fit the manager’s profile for his team.”
On a related note to squad-building, Cowie was asked if there was any particular player to keep an eye on going forward who could kick on and reach new heights.
“We’ve got a group of younger players who have not quite made it to the first team, but have been out on loan in recent seasons,” he said.
“We all know about Dylan Smith, who has been disrupted with injuries this year but is still a really good talent, but there’s a group of them.
“Andrew MacLeod has been out at Brora Rangers and Nairn County on loan, and he’s a really good talent.
“Connall Ewan went to Elgin this year and won their young player of the year, and won player of the year at Forres last year, and he’s still improving.
“George Robesten did really well on loan at Clach at the end of the season too.
“It’s up to somebody then to give these boys an opportunity if they keep progressing the way they are, and we have a lot of belief in these players.
“Then it gets to a stage where it’s up to them to make that final step, but the future of the club is looking really good.”
Off the pitch, Chisholm laid out his ambitions to keep driving the club forward both financially, and in the community.
“What I would hope is that we can engage further with our fans,” Chisholm explained.
“We’ve done a lot over the last year, and Shaun and Kenny have been amazing and what they have delivered is fantastic.
“We are seeing a difference in the hospitality suites, and we are seeing different clients and customers supporting the club, which I hope we continue to see more and more of.
“The digitisation of tickets next year is a big thing that we are going to step through, but I hope we can make it cheaper for the club to deliver that with no changes to the fans entering matches.”
All five panelists were also asked for their highlights of the season.
Campbell said: “There have been a lot of moments, but even though the result didn’t go our way for me as a supporter it was probably Dark Blue Saturday.
“I think that was the start of the fans really coming together as one, or 600, through in Aberdeen. Ever since then, it has been nothing but phenomenal at away days.”
Maclennan paid tribute to his fellow supporters’ liaison officer, commenting: “It’s quite an easy answer for me – Shaun’s appointment as SLO. The work he has done in the background has been huge with starting the Supporters’ Club, and I think everyone can see that.
“Duncan’s work with Stagecoach has been phenomenal too, and then there’s Don’s appointment as manager which I think we have all been looking forward to.”
Chisolm also looked to the work of the SLOs in improving the matchday experience, adding; “The highlights for me have been seeing the Staggies Bar bouncing on a Saturday afternoon. I think it’s brilliant.”
Cowie, meanwhile, looked back at his early matches as interim manager, saying: “My highlight is very clear: getting my first victory as interim manager against Livingston here.
“The manner of how we did it, with (Josh) Sims popping up with a last-minute winner, was amazing.”
Ferguson took a somewhat more philosophical approach, adding: “I hope that the highlight will be this weekend, but obviously we were in stormy waters and the whole staff steadied those.
“For us, and our club, to win three games in-a-row against Rangers, Hearts and Hibs – three city juggernauts of Scottish football – that was the highlight for me.”