He manages to sustain a level of optimism which is believable without straying into the ridiculous. He has clearly dispelled any notion of following the style of one of his predecessors, Ally McLeod. His thoughts are light years away from the sombre messages issued, with ever deepening gloom, by Maurice Malpas as last season tottered to a disappointing close.
Speaking to the Wishaw Press this week he set a target for the strikers to
Talking about next week's trip to Austria he said, "we will work very, very hard — the players are in for a bit of a shock, because we will be up at 7am, training between games, playing games, and working hard" and he also found time to hand out some early praise to the players after the first few training sessions since they returned. "It's been first-class; they look bright eyed and seem to me like sponges — they want to learn, work, and they're committed. But they're also needing work — they need to be dragged up to a level but I think it's there."
He also made it clear that the results of the early pre-season games were of no concern and that he was already focussed on the first game of the season on 4 August at
So far, so good.