Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor: "I felt something was not quite right"
ROSS County chairman Roy MacGregor was full of praise for Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds – despite making the call to show his management team the door.
The surprise news broke on Monday morning – two days after their 1-0 home defeat to Hibs in the Scottish Premiership left them winless since the opening fixture of the season – that the former Dundee United striker had been sacked.
The 45-year-old had spoken after the weekend’s loss, their fifth defeat in six games, about how he believes that he can get his team to go on an unbeaten run, as he had proved in the past.
McIntyre, who led County to their first major national trophy in March 2016 when they beat Hibs to win the Scottish League Cup at Hampden, called for more time to show MacGregor that he could deliver but missing out on the top six last season, despite a strong finish was in the mind of the club’s board.
The Staggies chief told the Inverness Courier that he had to make the call with the side having the worst goal-difference in the league and a trip to basement side Kilmarnock in danger of seeing them go bottom this weekend.
“I spent half an hour with Jim on Sunday and these things are never easy,” he said. “He was naturally disappointed and he felt he should have been given another three or four games, so we reached the first quarter of the season, but I had to make a judgement.
“I am good friends with Jim and he and Billy (Dodds) are two of the nicest and hardest working people we’ve had at Ross County. I just felt that something was not quite right.
“There was no pressure from fans but there was concern at board level and I have an obligation to supporters and shareholders.
“To be fair to Jim and Billy, they have brought great success to this club, firstly by keeping Ross County in the Premiership then, of course, the League Cup final success (in March 2016).”
MacGregor feels that the lack of progress on the pitch this season, despite bolstering the squad in the summer was worrying.
“It was a culmination of bad results from last season and that continued into this season. We strengthened in the summer, but we have not done it on the park,” he said.
“In the last two or three games, some things were not falling into place and that was a concern. We have the worse goal-difference in the league (minus nine), although to be fair we’ve played the three of the top teams in the league, Celtic, Aberdeen and Rangers.”
Former Dundee manager Paul Hartley, St Mirren boss Jack Ross and former Hibs manager Alan Stubbs are all in the running to replace McIntyre according to the bookies.
The County chairman, however, will not rush into a decision, adding: “It’s all happened so fast, so I have no timescale in mind for a replacement. I will take stock of the situation over the next 24 hours and go from there.”
All five of County’s defeats came against teams in the top six.
McIntyre presided over another summer reshuffle in Dingwall and was well-backed by MacGregor. They paid a six-figure fee, believed to be £100,000, to neighbours Caley Thistle for Ross Draper, as well as bringing in Sean Kelly, Billy Mckay, Thomas Mikkelsen and Jamie Lindsay, as well as sealing returns for Kenny van der Weg and Jim O’Brien.
Many supporters felt their League Cup success in 2016 glossed over their poor league form. They have won just 11 of 31 games this year, with their best run coming at the end of last season, stringing together a seven-game unbeaten run.
McIntyre faced down a section of the support that called for him to go in April during a home game against Dundee.
The high point of his three-year tenure was undoubtedly that win over Hibernian last year, which brought the Staggies their first piece of major silverware at Hampden Park.