Brown Talks to clydefc.co.uk
After his appointment as Clyde Manager was finalised this afternoon, John Brown spoke to www.clydefc.co.uk just before watching his new team narrowly lose to the league leaders.
The former Hamilton, Dundee and Rangers man was under no illusions about what lay ahead:-
“I’m a welder to trade and I served my time working, training three nights a week and playing on the Saturday. I know how to get my hands dirty and they are going to get dirty here on the training ground making sure Clyde survive in the First Division.
“If we do that then we’ll be looking to push on towards the top next season and that’s my goal. I’ll stand or fall by my judgements and a lot will be down to coaching. I’ll do things my way and if players come to the club I’ll make them better players.”
John was introduced to the squad before today’s match and he will take his first training session on Monday. He continued:-
“I want to help guys like Ruari MacLennan, who has come through the ranks and now has a contract for another two years, continue to benefit from playing in the first team at a good level. Hopefully we can tie down a number of the other boys and make sure there’s a great atmosphere here; a family atmosphere where everyone looks forward to coming in on a Monday morning.”
John revealed that he already had plenty of thoughts on the way forward for the team, having witnessed a number of matches during the season:-
“I’ve seen every team in the First Division this season apart from St.Johnstone and I don’t think there’s anything between the majority of them.
“I’ve seen enough Clyde matches this season – seven or eight – to notice areas that can be improved, for instance getting players into better positions to allow more chances to be created.
“Clyde are a decent footballing team but lack a bit of punch in the final third. It’s something I’ll be looking to address, whether it be by bringing in one or two new faces or by working on the training ground with Gary Arbuckle, Dougie Imrie and the rest of the lads that are here already.”
On the positions of Dougie Bell and Gary Bollan, John was very open minded:-
“I worked with Gary at Rangers as a player. He’s a great lad and I know he’s done a great job on the youth side here. Dougie has also worked well with the two previous managers. I’m happy with the staff here and I’m looking forward to working with them and the players. I’ve spoken to them both briefly but we’ll be talking further in the coming days.”
To conclude, John responded to the big question on supporters lips, namely the capture of new players before the January 31st transfer deadline:-
“I’m sure we’ll get a couple of new faces by Thursday and hopefully some more but it’s all down to budgets and other factors. There’s a lot of work to be done this week and a lot of phonecalls to be made.”