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After what has, at times, been a hectic week behind the scenes, the club is now all geared-up for our debut in the cinch Championship.

The League One flag will be unfurled ahead of the meeting with Raith Rovers, then it will be down to the serious business with the aim for Cove Rangers to establish ourselves in the second tier of Scottish football.

The preparations during the summer were far from ideal with managerial upheaval and the difficulty, shared by many similar clubs, of adding to the squad for the upcoming campaign.

Jim McIntyre has only been in charge for six weeks. During that time, he has had around a dozen training sessions, two warm-up matches and the four Premier Sports Cup ties. It has been a learning curve for the new boss, but he believes he’s getting to grips with the job, and more importantly, getting to know his players:

“The boys have been excellent in training, they’re an honest bunch. At this stage, mistakes will be made, but that’s what those games are for.

“It’s been great returning to football after some time away, and getting back out there with the players again. The only frustration for me has been the transfer market. Geography works against us, and other clubs in the north and north-east, but we’re scouring far and wide and we’ll continue to do that until we get the right kind of players to complement the good ones we already have.

“We could have signed players, plenty have been offered to us, but unless they’re going to improve the group, there’s no point in bringing them here.”

The manager admits that a few of the current squad have really caught his eye:

“You think you know players, coming up against them, but it’s only when you’re working closely with them that you fully appreciate their abilities.

“Fraser Fyvie sticks out, what a good professional, and he should still be playing at Premiership level – although I’m delighted he isn’t! Scotty Ross is one who’s come all the way through from the Highland League, and he’s done a brilliant job for me.

“It’s not just them though. What you can really see in the squad is just how tight they are, and why they’ve been successful.”

And he believes the mentality he has in the dressing room will be a major plus in the coming season:

“The good thing from my point of view is when there has been a poor performance, you can hear them saying it’s not good enough themselves, without me having to go in and read the riot act!

“When you hear that, you know you’ve got a good group there who are conscientious, they know when their levels have dropped, and they’re going to try to put it right.”

Jim has decades of experience as a player, coach, and manager to draw on; he knows the Championship inside-out, and he is fully aware of the challenge that lies ahead:

“You need to learn how to adjust when you lose games. Equally, don’t get too high when you win either. Hopefully we’re going to keep winning, but when we don’t, we have to respond in the right way.

“I don’t think the team should have anything at all to fear, but they will respect this league, because it is tough. Every point will be a prisoner.

“You only need to look to last season to see how close it was before all the various decisions were made, and I don’t expect it to be too different this time round.

“But we can approach it in a positive manner, trust in what we do, and believe in ourselves. You need to see where you are after the first round of fixtures, and you’ve got a sense of everybody else.”

It has been a frantic few weeks, but everything the players and management have done has been leading up to this moment, the unfurling of the League One flag, and the Championship opener against Raith Rovers:

“There’s definitely a different buzz when it comes to the league campaign starting. There’s a change in the atmosphere, and I know the players are looking forward to this just as much as I am.”

The full interview with Jim McIntyre can be viewed at the Cove Rangers FC YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/CoveRangersTV

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