Football: Glens call on Sandy for a helping hand

Jan 16 2013 by Douglas Dickie, Rutherglen Reformer

Glencairn called on some professional help this week to try and stop their slump - as former Airdrie United manager Sandy Stewart passed on some of his wisdom.

Burnside man Sandy was invited to take training on Monday night by Glens gaffer Willie Harvey, and Owen Coyle’s right hand man at Burnley and Bolton was only to happy to help.

The pair have been friends since Willie’s time in charge of Vale of Clyde, but a chance meeting on Hogmany prompted the events of this week.

And Willie will be praying Sandy’s ideas have gotten through, with Glens having lost their last two games 5-1 and 6-2.

Sandy, who spent time at Glens player as a 17-year-old, said he was pleased with what he saw.

He said: “I enjoy taking training and I was quite happy to help out.

“It’s difficult to tell how good a squad it is in two hours, but what I will say is they were an honest bunch of lads who responded really well to what I told them.

“They looked as if they had a good team spirit and they would fight for each other.

“I would like to think that bodes well for the future.

“I know they’ve had a few bad results so now it’s about how they bounce back from that.

“Willie wanted a fresh voice and a professional opinion and hopefully that will rub off on them.

“They all worked really hard.”

Sandy admitted he was pleased to get back on the training ground.

The former Airdrie and Partick Thistle player has been out of football since October when he left Bolton Wanderers following Owen Coyle’s sacking.

The pair have forged a good managerial partnership since Coyle became Sandy’s assistant at Airdrie in 2004.

The roles were then reversed at St Johnstone and Sandy followed the former Irish international to Burnley in 2007, but not before he lifted the Challenge Cup as caretaker gaffer at McDairmid Park.

After guiding the Clarets to the Premiership in 2009 the pair went to Bolton in 2010, but relegation last season and a poor start to this campaign saw Coyle replaced.

Sandy admits he’s keen to get back into football “as soon as possible.”

He said: “We had a couple of offers early doors which never materialised.

“Hopefully something will crop up in the not to distant future.

“People have told me to treat the last few months as a holiday, but I don’t see it like that.

“I enjoy my job and want to get back into it.”

Willie Harvey was delighted to have Sandy help his players out.

He said: “Sandy is a friend of mine so we arranged for him to come in and put the players through their paces.

“We’d already discussed the game on Saturday so it was good to get some fresh ideas in.”

Meanwhile, Willie says he’s confident he can fix the Glens following a 5-1 defeat to Largs and Saturday’s 6-2 thumping at the hands of Renfrew, both at home.

He said: “I know exactly what’s wrong but I’m not going to go pointing fingers.

“There are too many players off the boil and we are losing very, very poor goals. The goalkeeper has taken responsibility for some and the defence for others.

“But it’s a team failing - we win together and we lose together.”