Ray Aims High for Clyde
In the middle of the international break, the official website took the time to catch up with first team squad member Ray Grant.
Since arriving at Broadwood, Grant has impressed supporters by showing himself to be a cool, calm and intelligent operator. Given those qualities, it should probably come as no surprise that he opened the interview by mentioning that he was spending his ‘free week’ taking on the latest leg of his B License coaching course.
Discussing the course, the 22-year-old explained: “It has been different. The first time I did it was a big eye opener – in coaching I have a lack of experience so I am hoping the more I do it the more comfortable I’ll feel. I’m definitely a lot more comfortable playing than I am putting a session on! There’s a lot to take in and being a coach is definitely one of those under-appreciated jobs, that’s for sure.
“You never know what will happen in the future, but I just feel it is a good thing to have. If you manage to complete it it’s a positive, but it is like going to university, I guess; you get your degree but unfortunately that doesn’t guarantee you a job. So it’s definitely something I’d be interested in but will I get the opportunity? Will I be interested in the future? I’ve just got to wait and see and concentrate on the playing side for now.”
The former Norwich City man joined The Bully Wee in February this year and, along with other new recruits, his arrival coincided with significant improvement on the pitch. Since then, Grant has gone on to make 29 appearances for the club, featuring in all nine league games so far this season.
Reflecting on his first eight months at Broadwood, he said: “When I came in last season the boys were fantastic and I said quite a few times when people asked me about Clyde’s upturn in form that I couldn’t believe the position they were in. With the way the boys were playing when I came in, they definitely shouldn’t have been down near the bottom of the league.
“It was unfortunate that we couldn’t quite get into the play-offs last season. Going into this season, the manager said people would want to beat us because of the way we finished last season, but we just let everyone else do the talking and get on with our own performances. We’ve all got our individual targets and we’ve got aspirations as a team and that’s definitely to be up challenging at the top of the league. I think that is clear as day for everyone to see.
“I’m sure if we do things right and have the right attitude then we will be right up there.”
Ray was disappointed with the defeat against Queen’s Park before the international break, but he is confident the team can bounce back to winning ways and embark on another positive run:-
“The results were really good up until last weekend but, with the quality we have got, I am sure we will get back to winning ways the next time around.
“If everyone does their job and puts in the performance they can then not many teams in the league will be better than us. That’s not an arrogance – it’s a confidence that we are good when we turn it on. We deserve to be up there when we are playing our best football so we just have to try to maintain a consistency and keep improving it.
“It’s easy doing the talking off the pitch but we’ve got to do it consistently and hopefully we will see the results of that at the end of the season. Up until last weekend we were four wins on the bounce and last season we won five in a row so we have proven we can go on runs of winning games, but it is about getting that consistency so that if we win four or five in a row we don’t then slip up again.”
While Grant is confident in the players on the pitch, he concluded by praising the supporters:-
“Whether it is Hampden or Cowdenbeath, we know that the fans follow us so we have to repay that backing with performances on the pitch. Since I have been at the club, I think the fans have appreciated the effort the boys have been putting in.
“It’s such a massive club and we understand Clyde has been in a position that it probably shouldn’t for a long time. Everyone at the club is working so hard to get Clyde back to where it should be and we just want the fans to know that and understand that.
“There will be difficult times and difficult patches throughout the season, but when they are turning up like they did last Saturday it means the world to us. If they continue to do that throughout the season we will be truly grateful and I’m sure it will spur us on even more.”