Short-terms deals not on after Adams' Ross County exit
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ROSS County chairman Roy MacGregor has vowed to scrap short-term player contacts following the sacking of manager Derek Adams and his father, director of football, George Adams.
The annoucement was made yesterday at Victoria Park Stadium following the Scottish Premiership club losing all four opening league games.
The slide was halted by Tuesday's 2-1 Scottish League Cup win at League One Stranraer, but that didn't stop MacGregor and his board deciding to call time on Adams' second spell in charge of the club.
The manager recruited 10 new players this summer and, with wholesale changes being made in each transfer window, it has led to slow starts and too many dropped points.
The chairman stressed: “You take in the best players you can. We’ve been trying to find our feet in the Premier League, but short-term contracts are not the way we’ll be going. That’s nothing to do with the director of football or the manager. The third year is a pretty defining year in that you need to make long-term decisions if you want to stay here.
“I think what we’ve got for value for money in the dressing room today is the best set of players we’ve had. We just feel that we need to deal with that in a different way.”
It was a tough call for the Global Energy chief to make and he admits it wasn't easy.
He said: “In the life of football clubs sometimes change needs to happen. In the life of Ross County we just feel that change for a number of reasons has had to be made.
“On a personal basis, it has probably been the most difficult decision I have had to make in football, because not only are George and Derek personal friends, they gave the club so much history and in many ways it would not be where it is today if it wasn’t for the contribution of these two gentlemen.
“George was a major contributor even before his time here. That goes back over a decade so to think that a change has to be made, was a fairly serious situation.
“I have the utmost respect and good will for that team and I wish them both the very best wherever they end up in football.
“The way this club works is very unusual in we had a football director and manager that were father and son.
“We got the benefit of that as a club and the football director got a budget that he worked with. The board had no influence on that at all. When a signing was being made, myself and the directors were aware at the same time as the press, which is the way we wanted it."
“In the interim, Steven Ferguson, supported by the captain (Richard Brittain) and vice-captain (Scott Boyd), will take the team for Saturday (league match away to Hamilton) and the club will progress to look at how we deal with the situation going forward.”
MacGregor added: “There was disappointment from both sides, particularly Ross County’s side, but the chemistry has always got to be right. I’m a firm believer of their being alignment from the boardroom to the fan and that’s important to the development of the football club. That was not right so we felt this was the right time to make a change.
“The impact from both of them has been huge, more than anyone can understand. We were a Highland League club by and large that was taken into the Scottish League, under Bobby Wilson at first and then Neale Cooper.
“Even in Neale’s reign, no-one had an understanding how George’s role fitted in to how this club was run. He held that firm and was a major contributor into getting us where we are today.
“The manager was a player here and I followed most of his career through there to make him a manager at 32. I had every confidence in his ability to manage and we got more than we’d ever hope for.
“Today our challenges are different and we both need to be reinvigorated. They need to reinvigorate themselves and so do Ross County.
“One of the secrets of succcess here was strong relationships, but we have different circumstances here today. We have very educated fans, who are educated by the media. We have very demanding fans, both clubs, who need to be invigorated to come to football matches.
“We have a market that’s slightly different in football because in Scotland we’re not developing enough players and we have generational stuff as well. We have all sorts of challenges in football nowadays and Ross County has its fair share.”
Several attempts were made to contact Derek and George Adams, but neither returned our calls.
Ross County have not started looking for a successor yet and no deadline has been set for this.
Mcbookie.com have installed former St Mirren boss Danny Lennon as the 3/1 favourite to take the job, with ICT boss Terry Butcher a 6/1 shot just ahead of Dumbarton's highly-rated Ian Murray at 8/1.
