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Club captain Mitch Megginson is “excited” by the prospect of playing under new manager Jim McIntyre.

Mitch said: “Jim’s record of success at SPFL level speaks for itself and I’m really excited to have the opportunity to work with him.

“There was obviously an air of anticipation within the squad after Paul Hartley left as we waited to see who would take over.

“I have to confess none of the players and staff had any idea who might actually get the job until the club informed us just before it was made official.

“Jim has won a league and the League Cup before as a manager and it’s great to have someone with that sort of experience leading us.

“He has come to a club – and will be working with players – used to success, so it’s good that the manager has that on his CV as well.”

Jim is the third manager Mitch has played for at Cove Rangers.

John Sheran was the man in charge when he joined us from Alloa Athletic in 2016 and Paul, of course, was at the helm for the last three years.

Mitch said: “There is always a buzz in the lead up to new season, but that is intensified when there is also a new manager as place.

“I can assure him he will be working with a group of players who will give the same effort and commitment to him as we did to his predecessors.”

Mitch managed to squeeze in a short private meeting with the manager after Jim’s official unveiling at a packed Press conference at Balmoral Stadium.

“It was good to get the opportunity to have a quick chat with him,” said Mitch.

“One of the things he mentioned was how he wants to see us playing attacking football by getting the ball forward as often as possible.

“As a striker, that’s the sort of stuff you want to hear.”

Mitch was speaking ahead of taking part in what will be his second pre-season training session, the squad returned to work on Tuesday under the watchful eye of fitness coach Tam Ritchie, first team coach Gary Hake and goalkeeping coach Derek Soutar.

Mitch said: “It’s early days, but it’s great to be looking forward to what will be our first proper pre-season build-up for more than two years.

“We were only back about a week last year when I became one of a number of players who had the misfortune to get Covid.

“That set us back a lot – and as if that wasn’t bad enough the pandemic meant we weren’t able to play any pre-season games, so we had to go straight into the League Cup campaign and use those as preparation for the league.

“It was even tougher the season before because the problems with the pandemic meant we were unable to train until October.

“Thankfully, we are getting a bit more time to prepare this time because we know we have a huge challenge ahead of us.”

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