Jim: I Love the Game
New Clyde boss Jim Duffy spoke to www.clydefc.co.uk last night to give his thoughts on the job that he and Chic Charnley face at Broadwood.
To begin, Jim explained why he was glad to take on the role despite the club’s difficult circumstances:-
“I love the game and I love being involved in the game. Clyde is a club that should be doing better. It’s a club that immediately gives you a lift when you walk in its doors – not just the surroundings, but from the people. There’s a sense affection for the club and you get it straight away.
“When I spoke to Neil initially, I think the honesty was a good thing. He told me exactly what to expect, from the football side to the financial side and that was appreciated. You want to come in and not meet any surprises. I feel the club should be doing better and I think I can help.”
In terms of the results on the pitch, Jim was well aware of the task at hand:-
“Football is a game of habits, good or bad. It’s part and parcel of football and if you get on a run of defeats, for any number of reasons, you can start to think it will keep happening. Clyde haven’t got out of that recently and we have to try to turn it around. We can do that by working with the team and also freshening things up a bit where possible.
“The players need to have a desire to be better. They can’t just accept that it’s not worked out and be detached at the bottom. Chic and I don’t want to be part of that and neither should anyone at the club.
“We’ll be demanding the players to be better; it’ll be up to them ultimately but we’ll give them the advice they need. Perhaps they have felt sorry for themselves at times but when you do that in football you get nothing.”
Jim was speaking just after taking his second training session with the squad…
“The training sessions have been good, the attitude has been good. I’ve seen plenty of ‘training ground internationalists’ though. You want training to be lively and energetic but we’re experienced enough to know that it doesn’t mean that it will be the same at 3pm on a Saturday.
“We’ll only find that out after a game or two. The big test comes on Saturday – you can’t judge mental toughness on a training night. We’re looking at how the players respond to situations that will come their way in the match.”
The manager gave his thoughts on his early expectations:-
“I don’t have any league targets, as I’ve said before my only target is to find some respectability. The only way to get that is through results and if we do, then the whole club becomes more optimistic again and things build from there.
“There’s half a season to go and a lot of points available. We’re looking to get the first three and then take it from there.”
Jim went on to speak about new additions Charlie Miller, Bryn Halliwell and Ryan MacBeth:-
“We’ve had to ask for a few favours from people we know to freshen things up but I’m pleased we’ve been able to do so.
“Charlie is a terrific player who has played at the highest level. Not only does he have great ability but we’ll be looking to him to make others play around him as well.
“Bryn has played in the First Division this season and is a very experienced ‘keeper. JC (Hutchison) has potential, but when you have lost so many games and goals then I feel it calls for experience in that position.
“Ryan is a young midfielder with plenty of energy and enthusiasm. He hasn’t been involved in the first half of the season at Thistle and he’s desperate to play which is exactly what we need at the moment. Bryn is the same and the more we have looking forward to games the better.”
The appointment of Chic Charnley as assistant manager surprised some Bully Wee fans, but Jim was in no doubt that he had picked the right man:-
“Chic has a natural enthusiasm for the game and we need that in the dressing room. We want more life about the place, particularly after what has been a depressing series of results. I also hope that people don’t underestimate the football brain that he has. He could see a pass where others couldn’t and he will help me read and assess the matches. Chic’s strength was demanding the ball and taking it – we need people like that who won’t shy away from responsibility.”
Jim concluded with a clear message:-
“We’ve missed the dugout and missed the adrenaline on matchday so we’ve got plenty to look forward to and hopefully the squad will start feeling the same way.
“We know how tough the job is going to be but we’ll give it everything we’ve got.”