retired_marcias

Match report from the Dingwall Times on Saturday April 25th 2015

Masterful MacSween crushes Celtic

Hamish Brodie reports:

Coming into this match with the SPL title already in the bag and European cup matches still upcoming, many expected that Celtic would be favourites for a relatively easy 3 points to cement their challenge for a Champions League spot for next season, but Ross County were by no means in an end of season kind of mood - any match against Celtic is a big match and today was no different.

County took the lead as early as the 4th minute, Michael Reid collected the ball on the left of the midfield and dribbled past the Celtic defender to create a clear path to goal from where he was never going to miss. Celtic finished the half with an injury time goal against the run of play which saw the sides level at half time. 8 minutes into the second half, County ent for a route 1 goal executed to perfection - 'keeper Steve Hunt found John Rankin wide on the left, Rankin fed MacSween and the striker rounded the goalkeeper to restore County's lead.

Celtic were beginning to fall apart as, just 2 minutes later, Steven Davidson found John Rankin, the veteran midfielder weighting a perfect ball through for McGlynn to toe-poke home for 1-3. With 71 minutes on the clock, the County pressure told again as Michael Reid sprayed the ball wide for Ian MacSween to pick up, cut infield and fire home to secure the 3 points. Celtic did manage to fight back with 10 minutes left, Daniel Braathen feeding Stefano Mezzacapo whose thumping finish hinted at the frustrations of the Celtic players. County were in no mood to sit back however and an b]Alan Reid[/b] corner in the 85th minute was headed home by John MacDonald before man of the match Ian MacSween completed his hat-trick with the final goal of the game. Celtic manager Rudi Völler is becoming under increasing pressure now as fans become increasingly frustrated at their team's inability to win the championship for the last 10 years.

FT: Celtic 2-6 Ross County

retired_marcias

Match report from the Dingwall Times on Wednesday May 27th 2015

Historic triumph for solid County

Hamish Brodie reports:

It was far from the best performance Ross County have produced this season as the Dingwall side took on Shakhtar Donetsk in today's showpiece European final, but with captain Nick James and fellow centre-back John MacDonald marshalling the defence, County held off a determined Ukrainian side to retain their Champions Cup crown.

Shakhter were highly impressive throughout at creating opportunities and keeping possession, but struggled to find a way through the County defence with all bar one of their 17 shots on goal, that one being a neat finish by Kostyantyn Yaroshenko on the stroke of half time, but by that time the Ukrainians were already 2 goals down. After an even start for the first 20 minutes, County broke upfield with MacDonald feeding the ball forward for Mark McGlynn to win in the air and head down into the path of Alan Reid. The Shakhtar defence completely failed to pick up County's start player and with 19 assists and 19 goals already this season it was always on the cards that the speedy winger would ad to his tally and so he did, charging forward to the corner of the six-yard box before an audacious chip over the Ukrainian 'keeper for his 20th goal of a magnificent season to give County the lead. The 34th minute saw Paul Harris win the ball in midfield before feeding Ian MacSween who out-ran the opposition defence to slot home County's 2nd, perhaps slightly against the run of play.

Shakhtar could perhaps feel a little agrieved to head in 2-1 down at half time, but in truth it was their defending against two of County's most dangerous players which led to their first half downfall, coupled with their inability to finish off their own chances more clinically. The Ukrainians came out and dominated the play for large parts of the second half with County looking a little nervous with just a 1 goal lead in such an important match. 10 minutes into the second half however, MacDonald again won the ball at the back and played it forward for Michael Reid to collect in midfield. Reid played a superb pass through to Ian MacSween who evaded 4 Shakhtar defenders to progress to the edge of the area from where he measured his lob to perfection into the corner of the net to give County a 2 goal cushion again. Shakhtar battered at Ross County's door for most of the rest of the match, but the defence held firm as the Ukrainians found themselves finishing the game with 10 men with Gusarov sent off in injury time.

FT: Shakhtar Donetsk 1-3 Ross County

It was a superb achievement for Ros County who became the first Scottish club ever to retain the European Cup and having won both with a squad full of Scottish players, over half of whom were born in Dingwall. Eager to get a player's perspective on this historic day I caught up with County's creative midfield maestro Michael Reid after the match and began by congratualting him on his and the team's performance and asking what it meant to him personally and to the whole team:

Michael: Thanks Hamish. I'm a bit lost for words at the moment - this is beyond my wildest dreams when I was growing up as a Ross County supporter that I would play in 2 European Cup finals at just 23. I was only 11 when the gaffer arrived at the club so I've grown up following his team and of course joined the academy soon after and it has been a great experience - the academy is fantastic and made even more so by everyone there knowing that if they perform they will be given a chance in the first team at a club that is at the top in Europe at the moment. In the first team too the atmosphere is great amongst the lads - we have no fancy foreigners and I think we all have our feet on the ground and having a lot of local lads there's a passion in the team that most clubs just don't have.

Hamish: It was a tough match though - Shakhtar created a lot more chances than you did today.

Michael: For sure Hamish, we had to defend at our best today because Shakhtar are a good team and played exceptionally well against us. We were just happy that when we created chances we took 3 of them clinically - I know Ian really wanted to get on the scoresheet because he didn't last year even though we hit 4 and he deserves it!

Hamish: I have to ask about your brother Alan...we know he's a very shy lad and doesn't like to give interviews, but he is one of the hottest talents in European football now.

Michael: Alan's a great lad and he just prefers his football to do the talking. It's not that he isn't articulate - he's taking an Open University degree at the moment in amongst his football, he just doesn't like being in the limelight really. I think the gaffer is keen to look after him though and not let him get overwhelmed in a media circus - he just wants him to concentrate on his football and his studies.

Hamish: It must be great for you to play alongside your brother in such big matches though? Your parents must be very proud of you both.

Michael: Yeah, it's a dream come true for us to play together for Ross County - we'd have been delighted to play for the club in Division 1 as they were when we were growing up - to be part of this revolution at the club together is just amazing. Our parents are very pleased for us and we owe a lot to them for supporting us all the way in our wishes and getting us into the youth academy. I think Mum finds it hard watching some of our big matches and doesn't always travel, but Dad has been with us to almost every match and it's great to have him supporting us from the stands.

Hamish: And as for the future? Are you both planning to stay at County or do you have ambitions to move on elsewhere?

Michael: Well, as you know Hamish, Alan signed a new contract up until 2019 recently and I think he is very happy to stay here and continue to learn from the gaffer. This is a very special club with so many players who spend 10 and more years here and we don't want this team to be broken up - we can win the Champions League here so why would we want to move on? I'm hoping to sign a new contract myself soon to keep me here for at least another 5 years and I'll be more than happy to be a one club player to be honest.

Hamish: Thanks Michael and I and our readers will be delighted to here that you are both planning to stay and we look forward to more of your brilliance next season!

retired_marcias

Sports news report from the Dingwall Times on Wednesday August 20th 2015

Manchester United in "massive" bid for County winger

Hamish Brodie reports:

Sources from Ross County today confirmed that they had received a substantial offer for their left winger Richard Rhodes from Manchester United today. County declined to give details on the offer, but said it was highly unlikely that Rhodes would be going anywhere. Manchester United refused to comment at all on the story, but it is thought that a substantial bid of around £20 million has been officially made by the English club who earlier this week completed the signing of 32 year old James McFadden from Everton for £5.75 million.

County manager Adam Eckersley rejected a £9 million approach for Rhodes a few years ago from Celtic and is known to be keen to keep his squad together, but the club must be tempted by such a massive fee for a player who cost them nothing, coming as he did through their youth academy. Rhodes scored 9 goals and claimed 14 assists last season and has netted a total of 68 goals in 379 appearances in 10 years at Ross County as well as winning 13 Scotland caps having scored almost a goal per game for the under 21s previously. The player himself was unavialable for comment, but after 10 years may well feel ready to move on for a new challenge.

Keep with the Dingwall Times to hear more on this story as soon as it happens.

retired_marcias

Match report from the Dingwall Times on Tuesday October 6th 2015

500 not out for magnificent Dodds as James and McGlynn sink Ajax

Hamish Brodie reports:

Manager Adam Eckersley said after today's match that he was absolutely delighted with the result, not least because he wanted to mark full-back Kerr Dodds' 500th start for the club in the best possible way. It is a great achievement for Kerr Dodds to have reached such a landmark and at 30 he still has possibly upto 5 years left to play if he keeps performing. With 371 league appearances he holds the County record on that front too and the difference of well over 100 games shows just how many cup matches, especially in Europe he and County have played.

Ironically, it was the man who will almost certainly displace him in the County record books almost as soon as he hangs up his boots, if not before if he has another long injury like last season, who opened the scoring in this match after a dull 0-0 first half. Richard Rhodes curled in a superb corner on 56 minutes and captain Nick James rose above the crowd to head home the crucial goal. James will himself pass the 500 games started mark in 6 games' time as well as 4 substitute appearances and at 27 years of Age still has many years left ahead of him at the heart of the County and Scotland defences.

With Ajax failing to show much in an attacking sense and County's new goalkeeper, Kevin Black, a £1 million Summer signing from 1st Division side Ayr United equal to the 5 shots they did fire on target, it was left to Mark McGlynn to wrap up a 0-2 win for the away side as he raced onto a through ball from Alan Reid to finish neatly on 76 minutes. With their opening 4-0 home win over Brondby 2 weeks ago, this result sees County make an assured start to their Champions League campaign as they go in pursuit of 3 in a row to emulate the great Bayern Munich and Ajax sides of the 70's. With 2 games gone, County have 6 points in their group, Ajax and Manchester United who are County's next opponents for back to back matches have 3 points with Brondby yet to get off the mark.

FT: Ajax 0-2 Ross County

retired_tonytranbg79

Such a ong time ago Ross County were nobodies, still a good read :thup:

retired_tonytranbg79

Damn no editing, should be 'long'

retired_marcias

Thanks. I still wake up in a cold sweat occasionally, remembering the start though with that 5-0 defeat at Gretna - few management careers can have started much worse

retired_marcias

Apologies for double posting - in both my stories, but since it was relevant to both I thought I'd add it into each story

News report from the Dingwall Times on Saturday November 11th 2015

Sun journo's astonishing tirade on County manager

Angus McIntyre reports:

The Sun journalist Andy Renshaw today made an astonishing attack on Ross County and Faroe Islands manager Adam Eckersley, claiming he was a mickey-mouse manager and a disgrace to his country. Quite what prompted Renshaw's outburst is unclear, but he has been an outspoken critic of Eckersley ever since he took the Faroese national job having snubbed England and been widely tipped to take over Scotland. Infact, it is widely believed that Rensahw's animosity stems from the fact that he wrote an "exclusive" claiming Eckersley would be the next England manager and was then left embarrassed when the County manager turned down the post. Renshaw then got it wrong again back in 2010 when he wrote an article confidently predicting that the Scottish FA had lined up Eckersley to become their new manager and that this was the job he had been waiting for when he snubbed England. Eckersley's subsequent appointment as Faroe Islands manager left Renshaw again with egg on his face and brought into question his abilities as a top level football journalist, seeing him demoted to lesser matches before he parted company with his then employers at the Daily Telegraph.

Now back at the cutting edge of football journalism with The Sun however, Renshaw today launched into a tirade against the Ross County manager whom he sees as having let down both his country of birth and his adopted nation of Scotland by taking on what Renshaw described as a "mickey-mouse" international job. He also branded the County manager as gutless and unambitious for having turned down overtures from Europe's big clubs on the continent and in England in favour of staying at Ross County. Renshaw commented that Eckersley is too settled in his job at Ross County and is too scared of failure if he joins a big European club with "proper" players where he will be far less of a big fish. Renshaw also claimed that the youth academy provided by the Ross County chairman had played a huge part in the club's success and that with such talent coming through any manager could have been successful, citing also that Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers had been well below par, making it far easier for other clubs in Scotland to be successful. Renshaw concluded by stating that Eckersley is a very average manager, content to continue his management career in the uncompetitive Scottish leagues because he knows he isn't good enough to compete with the big boys at one of Europe's major clubs and that the same is true at international level where Eckersley is hiding behind the "tiny nation" flag which allows him to be as unsuccessful as he likes without ever being able to be criticised because he has no good players at his disposal.

For his part, Eckersley had little to say on Mr Renshaw's comments, branding him an idiot whose journalistic skills were at best average. Eckersley also said that Renshaw wouldn't understand loyalty if it jumped up and bit him on the ear and that there are more important things in life than the furtherance of his own reputation by managing a so-called "big club". He readily conceeded that the work of his chairman Archie MacLaren had been crucial to the club's success, but strongly rejected claims that he is too scared of failure to move elsewhere, commenting that he can achieve all he wishes to at this great club, that he is loyal to the fans and the chairman and they are loyal to him and that he is happy living in Dingwall and sees no need to prove himself to the gutter press. Responding to Renshaw's comments on his International management career, Eckersley accused Renshaw of sour grapes having twice got his story wrong and said he had taken the Faroes job because it was one that appealed to him as a challenge and to be able to help the develpment of football in the small Island nation, adding that he had no desire to manage England and get slated constantly by the likes of Mr Renshaw. Eceksrely finished by questioning just what Mr Renshaw had added to the game of football, saying that without wishing to be arrogant, he had done more for the development of football in both the Scotland and the Faroes than Mr Renshaw could ever dream of doing himself and that he should maybe find a job at which he is more competent.

Whilst Eckersley attempted to remain cool and unconcerned by the article it was clear that Renshaw's comments had hurt and angered him, hitting on one point that Eckersley knew could always be questioned about him - a lack of ambition. Fans of Ross County have beseiged radio phone-ins today with words of support for their manager however, laughing off Mr Renshaws claims and pointing out that their club is now one of the biggest in Europe, if not in size certainly in terms of footballing talent - they also paid tribute to the manager who ranks loyalty far above ambition in the wider scheme of things, saying that the bond of friendship between manager and chairman had been great for their club. Needless to say, we here at the Dingwall Times are fully behind our manager and his exploits on the International scene were he is adored by the Faroese football fans and players alike for the impact he has made on football in their country and widely admired by people in the game for what he is trying to achieve with a small nation rather than taking the opportunity to manage top class players almost guaranteed to be at major tournaments. Mr Eckersley, we salute you. Mr Renshaw, we, the people of Dingwall, think you are a cretin!

retired_marcias

Wednesday 2nd December 2015

Wingers...I absolutely love them - there is no better sight for me on a football field than a player flying down the wing, ball at feet and attacking the full-back before either whipping in a cross or cutting infield to shoot or square it. At Ross County I am lucky enough to have who I would consider to be two of the best wingers in Europe, if not the best. Richard Rhodes on our left wing has been excellent all season, looking more consistent in terms of assists and goals than previously, but whether he scores or not he gives us a great outlet wide on the left. On the right we have who I consider to be the best footballer in Europe at the moment - I know I'm biased, but not many could argue that Alan Reid has continued on from last season in absolutely awesome form, playing on the right wing for us - he has stats so far this season that I would be delighted with from a striker, nevermind a winger. Far be it from me to critise another manager in public, but since these are my private diaries I find some of the decisions of Scotland manager Colin Cameron quite bizarre - he leaves far too many County players on the bench and plays others out of their best positions - Alab Reid and Richard Rhodes should be played on the wings in my opinion - Cameron continues to use Reid as a centre-back when he does play him which just isn't his best position. I guess I shouldn't complain though since I could have been Scotland manager myself had I chosen to...

Yesterday was another momentus day for Ross County football club - we won away to Brondby to secure our qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League, but that wasn't why it was momentus. Following hot on the heels of Kerr Dodds, captain Nick James made his 500th start for the club, becoming the first of our academy players to do so - it is days like that that make me feel so proud and have no wishes whatsoever to be anywhere else - to see the players I have nurtured since they were 15 and 16 achieve so much in the game is a great feeling. It was sad that Scotland lost to the Czech Republic however as many of my Ross County players will miss the opportunity to perform at Euro 2016 and must now look to World Cup 2018 to play on the biggest international stage.

Just to bring the reader uptodate on our Champions League progress, having beatenb Bronby 4-0 at home and Ajax 0-2 away we faced a double-header against Manchester United which was unbelievablyfrustrating. We led 0-1 in the first minute and 0-2 after 19 minutes at Old Trafford, Richard Rhodes and Mark McGlynn finding the net, but Utd stormed back with a fantastic comeback with 3 goals in 12 minutes to lead 3-2 at half time. We attacked as much as we could in the 2nd half, but there were no more goals. 2 weeks later, we again threw away points and a 2-0 lead after a Nick James penalty and an Alan Reid strike had put us in control. Cristiano Ronaldo pulled on back on 79 minutes before our 'keeper Kevin Black made a massive blunder, coming out for a corner and ending up fumbling it into his own net on 89 minutes meaning that Manchester United stayed above us due to results between our two teams. As they won away to Ajax and we won away to Bronby yesterday we now both have 10 points and have qualified, but it is likely we'll have to settle for second in the group unless Man Utd slip up at home to Brondby.

Domestically it has been largely business as usual with the odd slip-up to go with some impressive performances in the SPL. Falkirk and Celtic are keeping us honest, both within 2 points of ourselves, despipte us losing just 1 of 11 games so far. That one was at Celtic Park, as the Glasgow side took a narrow 1-0 win from a close match. Falkirk were again a thorn in our side as we played out an entertaining 3-3 draw at the Falkirk Stadium with the score at 2-2 with just 22 minutes gone, Richard Rhodes grabbing a 92nd minute equaliser for us to secure a point. Livingston also proved to be a stern test despite struggling in the league - I can't understand their league position, as in Jerome Gomez they have a lethal goalscorer who netted 2 against us at Victoria Park, adding to Mark Allan's goal as we drew 3-3 from 0-2 down, Richard Rhodes scoring twice and Kevin Watson once.

Those results aside, we have been our usual selves in the league, winning our other 8 of 11 matches. The players were clearly itching for the action to begin after the Summer break as they tore into Dundee in amazing fashion on the opening day at Dens Park. The scoreboard at half-time read Dundee 1 Ross County 5 as Paul Harris, Mark McGlynn, Ian MacSween and Alan Reid (twice) all put their names on the scoresheet. The second half was a little quieter with just goals from Richard Rhodes and Kevin Watson to set us off with a 1-7 victory. Rangers were beaten 2-0 before our loss at Celtic, but after that we bounced back to excellent form with 4-1, 0-3, 5-0 & 5-0 wins over Hibs, Hearts, Clyde and Motherwell, with Mark McGlynn finding the back of the net 6 times as well as young youth academy product David Campbell taking his rare chance as we had an injury crisis, to score a few. A 0-2 win at Kilmarnock and a 2-0 win at home to Dundee United also followed in amongst the 3-3 draws and cup matches. In the league cup, Aberdeen were downed 4-0 with a hat-trick and an assist from Alan Reid.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Ross County Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Ross County 11 8 2 1 36 9 +27 26 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Falkirk 11 8 1 2 23 10 +13 25 3rd Celtic 11 7 3 1 20 7 +13 24 4th Motherwell 11 6 2 3 18 17 +1 20 5th Rangers 11 3 6 2 18 15 +3 15 6th Kilmarnock 11 4 3 4 17 15 +2 15 7th Dundee Utd 11 3 4 4 20 20 0 13 8th Clyde 11 2 6 3 9 15 -6 12 9th Hibs 11 3 1 7 18 29 -11 10 10th Dundee 11 3 1 7 11 26 -15 10 11th Livingston 11 1 3 7 15 27 -12 6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12th Hearts 11 1 2 8 8 23 -15 5 </pre>

retired_marcias

CM crashed so some things are different this time round, but I can't be bothered re-writing that post because it's not that different: scorelines are different and we beat Falkirk instead of drawing in the league so the league table now is actually:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Ross County Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Ross County 11 9 1 1 43 7 +36 28 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Motherwell 11 7 2 2 21 15 +6 23 3rd Falkirk 11 7 1 3 20 10 +10 22 4th Celtic 11 6 4 1 18 9 +9 22 5th Dundee Utd 11 4 4 3 21 24 -3 16 6th Kilmarnock 11 4 3 4 14 14 0 15 7th Dundee 11 5 0 6 14 21 -7 15 8th Rangers 11 2 6 3 17 19 -2 12 9th Clyde 11 2 5 4 8 16 -8 11 10th Hearts 11 2 2 7 8 20 -12 8 11th Hibs 11 2 1 8 14 28 -14 7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12th Livingston 11 1 1 9 18 33 -15 4 </pre>

We beat Aberdeen 5-0 in the cup this time and Alan Reid and Richard Rhodes have claimed more assists each, but fewer goals. We lost again at Old Trafford, but won this time at home to Man Utd, but lost 3-2 in Brondby this time...biggest difference is that Scotland this time beat Czech Republic in the play-off so they will in fact be at Euro 2016 (I guess at least something good comes from losing a day's play )