Highland League side Nairn County's director of football Graeme MacLeod places thanks on record to former manager Ronnie Sharp as search begins for replacement at Station Park
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Nairn County director of football Graeme MacLeod has reiterated his thanks to the club's former manager Ronnie Sharp, who handed in his resignation earlier this week.
Conor Gethins will take temporary charge of the side until a replacement is found, combining managerial responsibilities with his playing role, and the process is already under way to find Sharp's permanent successor.
MacLeod has now detailed what Nairn will be looking for in their next manager, and how long he expects the process to take – here's what he had to say about the vacancy at Station Park.
It's been a poor start to the season for Nairn – was it really Ronnie Sharp's decision to leave?
"From my point of view, it's the manager's decision and as a club we respect that," MacLeod said.
"I've worked closely with Ronnie over the last six years that he's been in the post, so we've built up a very strong working relationship together.
"I feel the work Ronnie has done for this club has been phenomenal considering where we were when he came back to the club, so he will be a big loss.
"The club has to now move forward and look to the future in terms of identifying a new manager to replace Ronnie."
It's less than 24 hours since Sharp's departure was confirmed – has there already been interest?
"We've had no concrete interest yet," MacLeod reasoned.
"My time has been filled over the last day and a half by working with Conor Gethins, who has taken over interim charge.
"There has been a lot of things I've had to go through with Conor, and a lot of work he has already put in to take us forward over whatever period he's needed for – I'd like to put my thanks on record for Conor as well for all he's doing at the moment to help the club through this period.
"We've put out the advert, so anyone that's interested in the post can email us before the closing date of next Wednesday.
"Whether it be Conor or anyone else who is interested in filling the position, we're taking the opportunity to weigh up the options that we have."
The closing date to apply is next Wednesday – realistically how long will it take to make an appointment?
"We have some really important games coming up" MacLeod stressed.
"We're fortunate in a way that with Brechin in the cup, our game is off, but we have some games that are going to be really important to us over the next month or so.
"Before the end of October we've got four or five teams against teams that are around about us in the league, so it's really important we take points from those games.
"In my view, to give ourselves the best chance of doing that we need to have a permanent manager in position.
"We're looking to move fairly swiftly to give the new manager the best possible opportunity to be successful in these forthcoming fixtures."
Nairn sit second bottom of the Highland League table – why should managers be interested?
"If you look at where we are now compared to where we were when he came in, the club is in a far better place," MacLeod explained.
"For me we've got a squad that should be much higher up the league table, and the committee has worked hard to give us a budget that allows us to recruit players of that calibre. That's two things that should be attractive to potential candidates.
"Compare that to when Ronnie came back in, I remember a time when he was taking a session the Tuesday before our first game of the season and there were only six contracted players there.
"Looking at where we were and the miniscule budget we had, for Ronnie to have pulled a squad together and developed that and evolved that over the last few years is testament to his skills as a manager and a coach.
"Now we have a solid foundation for the right candidate to come in, and hopefully take us on even further.
"We're really ambitious, and we're really keen to push on from where we've been finishing, struggling to break into that top six or seven.
"We're certainly keen to get back up to that neck of the woods and into that region of the table, and then push on again from there."
What are you looking for in a new manager?
"We're looking for someone with a drive to carry on from where Ronnie left off," MacLeod added.
"We want someone who can get the best out of the players that we already have at the club, that's the immediate goal.
"It's a difficult time to come in to a job, with it being seven or eight games into the season most clubs have a settled squad.
"Players who aren't playing maybe haven't quite reached the stage where they're thinking about moving on, so it would be quite difficult I think for a manager to come in and overhaul the squad.
"Ronnie's record when it comes to bringing young players through our system has been fantastic too.
"I looked it up the other week, and we've had nine debutants since we returned from Covid. I worked out that over the last season and a bit, we had a new debutant from the youth set up every six or seven games.
"Just because Ronnie has stepped away doesn't mean we've stopped believing in that. We still want to build and develop that, so we're looking for a manager that sits in with that ethos of developing players through our own system, as well as attracting top players to the club.
"We believe we can do that, because we've got an infrastructure and facility that's up there with the best in the Highland League."
