retired_tonytranbg79

nice one :thup:

retired_marcias

Interview from the Dingwall Times on Wednesday August 27th 2008

Ross County manager Adam Eckersley speaks exclusively to Hamish Brodie

Hamish: Well, there's a lot to discuss since we last spoke officially!

Adam: Mebee!

Hamish: I have to start by getting the rumours about England sorted out. Is it true that you were offered the England job this summer, but turned it down?

Adam: Well, since it has been widely reported with rumours flying around, yes I was offered the England job after Sam Allardyce was sacked, and yes I did reject the offer.

Hamish: Do you mind if I ask your reasons?

Adam: You can ask what you like Hamish! Whether I'll answer or not is another matter

Hamish: So you don't wish to tell us?

Adam: I just had to make a choice, whether I wanted the job or not and I decided I didn't. I am happy at Ross County and being up here in Dingwall is hardly ideal for managing England. I may be English by birth, but for the foreseeable future I'm staying in Scotland.

Hamish: You'll no doubt be aware that the press are speculating that you rejected the offer because you want the Scotland job.

Adam: I don't believe everything I read in the press Hamish! Half the population of Scotland probably want the Scotland job, but Roy Aitken is the manager at the moment and we are all hoping he can take us to the 2010 World Cup.

Hamish: Back to Ross County then. Are you excited by the prospects for the club with the North Stand being expanded and the new youth academy opening this summer?

Adam: Most definitely. Our Ground is very small, but there are limits to how big it can feasibly grow to anyway because we have a small population base to draw our fans from. I am delighted by the expansion though and hope we will increase our attendances. The youth academy excites me hugely. As you know I've always been enthusiastic to bring the local talent through into the squad and this will really help us.

Hamish: You made 3 new signings over the Summer. Some people were surprised you signed 2 strikers, but no defenders. Do you feel you have the right balance of the squad now?

Adam: Well Hamish, I didn't feel the need to buy any defenders because we have some exciting prospects coming through the youth ranks and I didn't see anyone worth buying who is better than those. Daniel Freeman from Norwich will give us extra goalkeeping cover where we were a little lacking last season. Stephen Dobbie was available on a Bosman from Hibernian and I felt he was worth signing despite his poor goalscoring record at Hibs. He is an excellent target man and can put shots away from distance and in the box so I think he can add options to our forward line.

Hamish: And Keigan Parker? The club's record signing - I imagine you'll be expecting a lot from him?

Adam: I don't want Keigan to feel too much pressure because of his price tag. It's true he is our record signing, but that has a lot to do with our financial position being a lot stronger now also. We paid £700,000 for Mark McColl 2 years ago, but he hasn't managed to fulfill his promise as yet. Keigan cost us £700,000 upfront with another £1.3 million due in installments over the next 24 months and a further £500,000 when he scores 50 goals. It's a lot of money of course, but spread over a period of time when I would hope us to be in the Champions League for the foreseeable future so it isn't a major financial gamble - it's just a question of whether the lad can settle in a score the goals for us, but I beleive he can.

Hamish: You've also managed to keep hold of your other star players still - does that please you as much as the new signings?

Adam: Of course, we are delighted that Mark McGlynn signed a new contract. It looked very much as though he would leave us in the Summer, but Andy (Goram) spoke to him and managed to persuade him that at 18 he can gain a great deal from staying at Ross County for a few years at least before moving on. Most of our other players are also on contracts for at least the next 2 years now also.

Hamish: Finally, what are your thoughts on the season so far and on the Champions League draw?

Adam: It's been a bit of a mixed start to the season so far. It was a tough fixture list with Dundee United away to start and then back to back matches with the Old Firm. I was delighted with the win at Utd, but really frustrated at our conceding a late goal to lose at home to Rangers - we have always been strong at home so that was gutting. We maybe could have won at Celtic, but they did well to come from 0-2 down and in the end 2-2 was a fair result.

As for the Champions League, it'll be tough of course. I don't know too much about Partizan Belgrade, but we have scouts over there now. Real Sociedad are a strong side, like all the Spanish entrants and of course Arsenal, the holders, are a worldclass team and if we can get anything from them it will be a huge success

[This message was edited by Peacemaker7 on 25 February 2004 at 20:10.]

retired_marcias

Article from the Dingwall Times on Thursday September 11th 2008

MacSween delight at first cap

Hamish Brodie reports:

Ross County striker Ian MacSween today spoke of his delight at gaining his first international cap in Scotland's 2-0 win over Kazakhstan last night. MacSween has been in the last few Scotland sqauds, but had failed to make the bench in any previous match. In last night's match at Hampden however, MacSween not only made the bench, but came on as a 61st minute substitute for Hibernian striker Scott Brown.

MacSween today took time to thank his club manager Adam Eckersley for all his support and for bringing him to the fore in Scottish football at the SPL champions. Eckersley has been very vocal at times about the lack of recognition for his players in the national media and in the Scotland squad so will be delighted with last night's match in which Kerr Dodds also made an assured debut at centre-back. Mark McGlynn won his 7th cap, playing at right-back in a role-reversal with Dodds from their club positions. Nick James also won his 9th cap at just 19, playing this time in the midfield having played most of his previous matches for Scotland at the back where he also plays for Ross County.

retired_marcias

Saturday 2nd November 2008

I'm too irritated to give a long account of our domestic form for now. It's not very interesting anyway and the league table says all that needs to be said! Just like last season we have somewhat floundered in defence of our title. Unlike last season however, the league isn't quite so close above us, with Rangers' defeat at Aberdeen in their last match being their first of the season to give us some hope at least. We have a point more than this time last season and are a position higher, but I'm really frustrated by our performances.

It was from this point on last season that we embarked on a brilliant run of form which saw us unbeaten into February as we moved 5 points clear at the top, but there isn't a whole lot of evidence of that happening this time despite us thumping Dundee 5-0 in our last match. Yet again we are out of the league cup - I put a full strength side out this time, but our defending was schoolboyish as we went down 4-3 at first division Raith Rovers.

We aren't actually doing too badly in the league as far as defeats goes - back to back defeats at home to Kilmarnock and away at Livingston, but the manner of our play and our recent inability to score in 0-0 draws against Motherwell and Aberdeen is infuriating. I'm still trying to find our best combination of strikers, but it's proving difficult. Having openly criticised Steven Dobbie for his form I kept faith with him and he repaid me with a few goals, but is still very inconsistent.

Our European form will be updated as the group stage comes to an end so for now I'll keep quiet on how I feel about our prospects there!

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Ross County Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Rangers 11 7 3 1 21 11 +10 24 2nd Livingston 11 7 2 2 22 12 +10 23 3rd Dundee Utd 11 6 2 3 18 15 +3 20 4th Celtic 11 5 3 3 15 9 +6 18 5th Aberdeen 11 5 3 3 15 18 -3 18 6th Ross County 11 4 4 3 19 13 +6 16 7th Motherwell 11 4 3 4 17 14 +3 15 8th Kilmarnock 11 3 4 4 10 11 -1 13 9th Dunfermline 11 2 4 5 12 13 -1 10 10th Hearts 11 2 4 5 13 22 -9 10 11th Dundee 11 2 1 8 13 26 -13 7 12th Hibs 11 1 3 7 15 26 -11 6 </pre>

retired_marcias

Champions League Review: Christmas Day, 2008

Ross County, Real Sociedad, Partizan Belgrade and Arsenal, the Champions League holders. It was going to be a tough group if we were to make it through to the knockout stages of the competition in spite of our indifferent domestic form.

A howler from Daniel Freeman in goal saw us concede early in Belgrade, but we fought back to equalise through Keigan Parker before the half-time break. Into the second half it was tight, but Partizan were clearly dominating as we sat back defending in search of a break away opportunity or settling for a draw. With 73 minutes on the clock however, Ivica Illiev was fed by Marinkovic to smash past Freeman for 2-1. If we were to get anything we would now have to attack. We tried, but were undone with 2 minutes to go as Illiev again broke through to slot home Partizan's 3rd goal. It was a bad start to the campaign for us - I felt we had to win our home games and then try to get a point either in Belgrade or away to Sociedad, with Belgrade seeming the more likely.

FT: Partizan Belgrade 3-1 Ross County

Next up, the Champions League holders Arsenal came to Victoria Park and we knew we needed to be positive and we were. With just 7 minutes gone however, Owen Hargreaves fed Aliadiere and the frenchman put the ball neatly past Freeman to give Arsenal the lead. From the kick-off, Arsenal played the ball back to their 'keeper whose kickout found the head of Nick James. James headed down to David Winters who proceeded to beat 3 Arsenal players before slotting home from the angle for the equaliser. With 25 minutes gone, O'Donoghue drove the ball forward for Ian MacSween to pick up on the left and fire in for Stephen Dobbie to tap in. We were leading the champions 2-1!! Dobbie wasn't finished yet though and with 5 minutes remaining in the first half McGlynn punted the ball upfield onto the head of Winters who headed superbly into the path of Dobbie, the striker applying a clinical finish to send us in 3-1 up at the break. We continued to pour forward in the second half and on 73 minutes, Burchill swivelled in the midfield before sending Ross O'Donoghue clear to side-step the 'keeper and put us 4-1 up. Surely now we had secured a famous win?! In the end it was a bit tighter than we'd like as Stephen Dobbie missed a glorious opportunity for a great hat-trick inbetween two late strikes from Thierry Henry. We held on in the end though and our European campaign was back on track.

FT: Ross County 4-3 Arsenal

Up next was a double header against Real Sociedad who had lost both their games so far. We really needed a point from the away fixture and approached the game positively. Sociedad, despite having some top class players were very disappointing and we comfortably held our own in a goalless first half. The second half was equally tight, but a 73rd minute goal from substitute Mark McColl gave us the lead and we had no intention of letting it slip despite late pressure from the home side.

FT: Real Sociedad 0-1 Ross County

Our win in Spain had seen us joint top of the group on 6 points with Arsenal and Partizan, Sociedad having gained 0 points from their 3 games. A home win against the Spaniards would see us needing a win against Partizan at home the following match to qualify for the 2nd round. The first half was frustrating as we probed the Sociedad defence without success, but in the second half our persistance finally paid off as Ian MacSween fired in 2 goals in the space of 7 minutes to give us a priceless 2-0 win. Sociedad had chances, but we also had more opportunities to extend our lead and in the end it was a deserved double over the pitiful Spanish team.

FT: Ross County 2-0 Real Sociedad

Wednesday 26th November 2008 was a wet day in Dingwall and was a day on which we could secure an amazing qualification for the knockout stages of the European Cup. We knew that Partizan would be a threat from our match in Belgrade and sure enough they created chances in an open match. We failed to create many chances, but Mark McGlynn curled in a glorious 25-yard shot as the ball was headed back out of the Partizan penalty area to him. It wasn't until just before the hour mark that we scored the second, O'Donoghue intercepting a sloppy pass as Partizan tried to play the ball around in their defence. The County midfielder strode forward and fired past the Partizan 'keeper to send us 2-0 up. Predrag Pavlovic pulled a goal back in injury time, but there was no denying our passage to the knockout stages. We were top of the group with just a trip to Arsenal left to decide who would top the final group table.

FT: Ross County 2-1 Partizan Belgrade

The match at Ashburton Grove was always going to be tough for us and to be honest we didn't really care what the result was so long as we weren't humiliated. We were already through and we knew that it would be a tough 2nd round match whoever we played so it was no surprise really that Arsenal comfortably beat us after our dogged defending was finally breached in the second half.

FT: Arsenal 3-0 Ross County

Ross County had qualified for the last 16 of the European Champions League - it sounded great and our stadium upgrade was completed on time to increase our capacity to 8236 ready for the visit of Newcastle United in the knockout stages. First though we must travel to St. James' Park. Arsenal being drawn against Milan with the first leg at home washed away any slight disappointments we had had about not managing to hold top place in the group.

retired_marcias

Saturday 31st January 2009

Not a huge amount to report this time. League form has been so disappointing this season, it's hard to put it into words. We've done so well in the last 2 seasons, but this season we are just really struggling for consistency, especially away from home where we are constantly being taken apart.

We've improved somewhat since November and the problem is more with a lot of draws than necessarily with the defeats although they are at the time more infuriating as we just look hopeless at times away. The 4-0 defeat at Motherwell recently being a case in point - we tried to attack whilst keeping it solid defensively, but they just cut us to shreads at the back, helped by a wonder-goal from Keith Lasley. I tried to get John Rankin to man-mark him, but he only needs a sight of goal and he shoots! Our other 2 defeats since my last update have also been away - 4-0 at league leaders Rangers and 1-0 with a gut-wrenching 94th minute goal at Dundee. I guess it doesn't look too bad when put like that, but the league table doesn't lie and a yawning 19 point gap between us in 4th and Rangers at the top shows that our form just isn't good enough. Indeed we will struggle to catch Livingston for 2nd even and have a lot of work to do to secure the 3rd Champions League qualifying spot.

We switched to 5-4-1 for the first time ever for our recent match at 3rd placed Dundee United and it worked a treat, giving us a 0-2 win with excellent goals from David Winters and lone striker Ian MacSween. It's not a formation that I'm totally happy with, but I felt we needed more solid defence away from home so I sacrificed a striker for a centre-back. Ian MacSween isn't really an ideal lone striker though - he's a superb player, but not as a target man which he'd need to be for that role ideally. I'll probably try it again next away game to see how it goes. I'm not keen to lose the full-backs or the wingers so I'm limited in the formations I can try while I try to sort out our defensive frailties!

At home we continue to play well, but sometimes don't manage to create as many chances as I'd like. Wins over Celtic, Hearts (6-0) and Aberdeen have kept us ticking along, but draws at home to Livingston and Dundee United have definitely proved 4 points lost. We had a run of 3 successive away games to end January so hopefully we can get a few good home results to propell ourselves into proper contention for 1 of the 3 Champions League berths and find some form for our double header against Newcastle.

We narrowly beat Livingston 3-2 at Victoria Park in the SFA Cup with a late Stephen Dobbie winner to set us a home tie against Ayr United next Saturday from which we should progress. A cup run would be very welcome this season since our cup form in recent seasons has been atrocious barring one visit to Hampden for the League Cup final.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Ross County Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Rangers 23 17 3 3 49 23 +26 54 2nd Livingston 23 12 8 3 38 21 +17 44 3rd Dundee Utd 23 11 5 7 33 31 +2 38 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th Ross County 23 9 8 6 37 27 +10 35 5th Celtic 22 10 4 8 32 21 +11 34 6th Aberdeen 23 8 8 7 35 36 -1 32 7th Motherwell 22 8 6 8 35 29 +6 30 8th Dunfermline 23 5 9 9 23 28 -5 24 9th Kilmarnock 23 5 9 9 26 32 -6 24 10th Dundee 23 6 3 14 28 48 -20 21 11th Hibs 23 4 8 11 30 42 -12 20 12th Hearts 23 3 7 13 25 53 -28 16 </pre>

retired_tonytranbg79

Your gonna have to fight to retain your title . Still possible tho . C'mon County

retired_marcias

Aye

I might have to win the Champions League to get back there next season at this rate too

retired_marcias

Champions League R2 review (part 1)

Newcastle United vs Ross County

Wednesday 11th March 2009

This was to be the next in what has been a steady succession of the "biggest game in Ross County's history". Newcastle United at St. James' Park in front of 44,267 vocal Geordies fully expecting their star-studded team to sweep past the nobodies from some town in North Scotland no-one had ever heard of! OK, so to be fair, Newcastle took us totally seriously and gave us the respect that is due to any team that comes through the Champions League Group stages. They were favourites and they knew it, but with that would come pressure.

In a match that saw Newcastle have 23 shots on goal, it was undoubtably a night that would test our young squad to the limit, especially with our domestic league form being distinctly average of late. Sure enough, just 8 minutes had passed when Jermaine Jenas was fed by Hugo Viana to find a gaping gap in the County defence. Jenas wasn't going to miss from there and smashed the ball confidently past Daniel Freeman to put Newcastle 1-0 up. As we entered the 37th minute, Ross County had defended well, allowing Newcastle just 6 shots on target so far, only 2 on target, one of them of course having hit the back of our net. As Steven Taylor rose above the Ross County defenders at the near post to head in a Freddie Ljungburg corner though things were not looking good for us. Playing the away leg first can be good so that we know what we have to do in the home leg, but getting a pasting that would render the home leg irrelevent was our worst fear and it looked like coming true as Newcastle continued to pile on the pressure. Thankfully we held on to half time and went in 2-0 down at the break. I did my best to gee the lads up and tell them they were still in this game - they just had to tighten up at the back and when they got any chances going forward, they had to take them because there wouldn't be many.

So it was that just 2 minutes into the second half, a punt up field from Nick James came to John Rankin who slid the ball wide to Kerr Dodds. The young right-back evidently decided his crossing ability was dubious so cut into the box and carried on running before unleashing a shot which squeezed between the post and Shay Given and into the Newcastle Utd net! We had an away goal and were right back in the game!!

Heartbreak was to follow though after we defended stoutly until the 86th minute when Newcastle won a freekick 25 yards out. Nolberto Solano fired it in, but Freeman caught it well and sent it upfield. Only as far as Andy Griffin though. Griffin found Ameobi, Ameobi spotted the gap and slid the ball through the Ross County defence to where Freddie Ljungburg was charging forward, the Swede duly ran forward into the box, collecting the ball and fired past a helpless Freeman to put Newcastle 3-1 up. It was still a good scoreline for us, but we've conceded so many late goals of late and it's so frustrating after defending so well for so long. Still, the match was very much alive for the return fixture at Victoria Park which was our main aim against such illustrious opponents.

FT: Newcastle United 3-1 Ross County

Elsewhere, many of Europe's big teams were in action, clashing around the continent, with the 8 group winners all having home advantage:


Arsenal 1-0 Milan
Chelsea 4-1 Betis
Dinamo Kiev 2-1 Juventus
FC Bayern 2-0 Real Madrid
Inter 4-0 Lyon
PSV 3-0 Lazio
VFB Stuttgart 1-1 Man Utd

retired_marcias

Champions League R2 review (part 2)

Ross County vs Newcastle

Wednesday 25th February 2009

We were nervous heading into this second leg. No-one in the wider world of football expected anything from us of course so there was no pressure on us in that sense, but there was pressure from ourselves. We didn't want to crash out with a big defeat at home, but we knew Newcastle would be very dangerous on the break. That late Freddie Ljungburg goal in the first leg could prove so important. Equally, Kerr Dodds away goal for us could prove crucial also.

Having played with a 5-4-1 formation at St. James' Park, we reverted to a variation of 4-4-2 for the home match, using a DMC and an AMC this time however rather than our more usual MC pairing with one asked to be more attack-minded and one more defensive-minded. It's hard to judge tactics for a match such as this. We needed to be positive, but we couldn't afford to concede a goal and 2 would certainly be curtains for us. I opted for John Rankin ahead of Paul Harris in the pivotal DMC role. Both are excellent MCs, neither totally used to playing in a deeper role, but I felt Rankin's greater experience and heading ability would be important for us.

With Newcastle's strong midfield in mind I curbed my more usual attacking wingers, telling Richard Rhodes on the left wing and Ross O'Donoghue selected on the right to push infield when Newcastle had the ball. To balance our lack of attacking play down the wings, our two strikers, Steven McGarry and Kiegan Parker were told to pull wide when the opportunity presented itself to collect the ball and pull the Newcastle centre-backs with them. Ian MacSween was given the all-important AMC role, being asked to push forward at every opportunity to join the strikers and take advantage of any gaps created in the Newcastle defence by McGarry and Parker pulling wide.

Across the back, we had our usual settled line. Craig Samson was injured leaving us with only Daniel Freeman to play in goal and no 'keeper on the bench (we had U19's, but I chose to take the risk). David Dunne returned at left-back in favour of John MacDonald who has filled in there recently, whilst Kerr Dodds was, as ever, given the right-back role. In the centre of our defence were arguably our two most talented young players - both Scotland internationals, both still as yet to turn 21, Nick James and Mark McGlynn would be crucial for us in defending our lines and keeping Newcastle out.

So the match began, in front of a new capacity crowd of 8217 with the home fans looking to get well behind their team and roar them on. Within 2 minutes though, the tie was all but over and I was fuming on the touchline. John Rankin went down injured in a challenge with Jermaine Jenas, but Newcastle played on, Jenas to Ljungburg picking out Shola Ameobi who blasted into the back of the Ross County net. It was gutting for us as our DMC linchpin, John Rankin was stretchered off with a painful wrist sprain. It would now fall to Paul Harris to fill that role and attempt to halt Newcastle's momentum and at least keep the scoreline respectable for us.

2 minutes gone only and we had conceded the away goal. We were 1-4 down on aggregate against one of the best teams in Europe and with one of our most influential players stretchered off. To say I was angry on the touchline was an understatement. Sure, Newcastle had every right to play on, but that didn't make it any the easier to accept at the time as Rankin was left lying in agony on the turf as Ameobi was mobbed by his team-mates in celebration. I guess we had done well to get this far though and should be proud of that achievement...

[This message was edited by Peacemaker7 on 27 February 2004 at 18:01.]