Bob & Mark to Lead From Dugout
Assistant manager, Bob Malcolm and first team coach, Mark Roberts will lead the team from the touchline at today’s match against Elgin City, with Barry Ferguson carrying out his management duties remotely.
Barry is currently in Levante, for the final stage of the UEFA Pro Licence course.
Participation in the Pro Licence – the highest football coaching qualification available – is by invite only and requires a foreign visit at a place and time set by UEFA.
Barry is already a UEFA licence holder at levels A, B and C and has been working towards the Pro award for two years.
The Clyde manager spoke to the official website before he headed to Spain this week:-
“As part of the licence requirements, you need to do a foreign visit, but unfortunately you don’t get to choose where or when, so you have to make some sacrifices to complete it.
“I’ve got to attend a match on Saturday so there was no way I could even have come back for part of the day to be on the touchline. The club has known about this weekend for a while and they’ve been great, they’ve fully supported me on it.
“It’s taking me a total of nearly seven years to get to this point including all of my badges; it’s been a lot of hard work but I’ve really learned a lot and it’s been extremely beneficial.”
Barry explained that every effort had been made to ensure that he would still be fully involved in all of the matchday activities:-
“All of our usual planning and preparation for the match was done as normal before I left.
“I’ll have spoken to the boys on Friday and I’ll be with them all day on Saturday by telephone and video calls. I’ve organised to be in direct contact with Bob, who will be in the dugout and have an earpiece in.
“I’ve got every faith in Bob, Mark and the boys and I know that they are professional enough and have enough experience as a group not to let this affect them.”
Clyde chairman, John Alexander said: “It is always disappointing not to have everyone available on a matchday, but we occasionally lose players because of other commitments and we plan around that, as we have planned around Barry taking his final assessment.
“He has worked extremely hard to get himself to this stage. The club benefits from the experience Barry gains through such high-level development and we are happy to continue to support him.
“Bob and Mark have been with him in the dressing room and dugout all season and they are both experienced enough to give extra assistance to Barry today.”