Bryan Smith Interview

Clyde stopper Brian Smith kindly took time after training to give us a brief interview. Here he discusses pre-season training, his teammates and how he sees the season progressing…

Can you give us a brief career history? Well I started out at Clydebank when I was 16. I spent 4 years there before moving to Shettleston for 3 years, Petershill for 3 years then on to Clyde.

How are you enjoying pre-season? It’s been good and different from the past. It has been less gruelling and the management have tried to vary it somewhat.

How do you think the team will do this season? I think we will do well this season. Indeed we have only really lost one player so there is no reason why we can’t do well.

Which Clyde player do you rate most at the club? Simon Mensing is a good player. He is an excellent defender with a chance to do well for himself.

Do you think you would be able to play in a 4 at the back system or are you restricted to having to play as a sweeper? I will just play where I am told to play and if the manager decides he wants to play 4 at the back I can play in that. The season we won the league we played 4 at the back.

Have you been able to learn anything from an experienced defender like Alan Kernaghan? He has had me working on my positional play and my concentration. I have also been working on taking the responsibility to pick people up whereas before I did not really have that to worry about.

Last season injuries played a major part for almost the entire squad. With that in mind, do you think the squad is big enough for the coming season? I think we could struggle if we get many injuries or suspensions. We will have to hope that we avoid losing players like that. However, a lot of clubs in the league have small squads and it is now part and parcel of the game.

Which clubs do you think will do well this season? Hopefully we can do well this season and I think the possibly St. Johnstone and Falkirk could possibly be the strongest sides. I think that Ross County will also do well.

How do you feel the pre-season games are going? Well so far we have not lost any games. Although I am sure we would like to have won them all. We still have to improve a lot, but all in all they have not been too bad.

What have been the best and worst moments of your career so far? The best has to be winning the league and to be given the chance to return to the seniors was also a great moment for me. And I have been lucky that I have not really had a worst moment so far.

Our thanks to Brian for sparing the time to give us the interview. Look out for more Clyde players in the coming weeks.