Stefan Laird
Introduction to Elgin City’s new assistant manager Stefan Laird
Transcript
00:00 We're delighted to be here.
00:02 It's going to be an exciting time,
00:03 hopefully for us and the club,
00:05 and we're looking forward to getting started.
00:07 It's been fantastic, to be honest,
00:08 with a really good few years,
00:09 and we've done really, really well,
00:11 and built a great group there,
00:12 and had some really good achievements.
00:15 But such as football,
00:16 that's obviously got us an opportunity,
00:18 and looking forward to pursuing that now,
00:20 and hopefully recreating some of that with Elgin.
00:24 Yeah, so I played down in Glasgow,
00:26 from Greenock, just outside Glasgow,
00:27 and then moved to a wee place called Kilmarnock,
00:30 when I was in the Rangers Academy,
00:32 14 to 16,
00:33 and then ended up going down to Plough Blackpool full-time,
00:36 and I was there for three years.
00:39 Normal football story, lots of injuries,
00:41 too many, and ended up following up coaching,
00:44 and was coaching at Greenock Morton,
00:46 when they were under 20,
00:47 before I came up to Aberdeen to further my education,
00:50 and done the Aberdeen Academy and community,
00:53 and then in with the women,
00:54 and then dragged back into the senior game with Alan,
00:57 which is where I'm desperate to try and succeed,
01:00 and we're looking forward to the challenge.
01:02 Young in age, but certainly not young in coaching hours.
01:05 Been coaching a long time,
01:06 and been a full-time coach now for 10 years,
01:10 which seems a really long time,
01:12 saying that now.
01:13 Yeah, we've got our own methods.
01:15 Some of them will be different
01:16 to what maybe the players are used to,
01:17 and some of them won't be,
01:18 but it's just about finding the little tweaks,
01:20 where we can get the best out of the group here,
01:22 and Alan spoke to everybody,
01:23 and I'm looking forward to meeting them,
01:24 and we've got a really good bunch of guys,
01:26 and we're looking forward to getting started,
01:28 and hopefully getting some victories in the North.
01:30 You've got to be honest, it's very, very difficult,
01:31 especially geographically for the clubs in the North,
01:33 in terms of recruitment.
01:35 The clubs in the central belt have got a massive pool
01:39 of players and sponsors and all that kind of stuff.
01:41 The Elgar have succeeded,
01:42 survived a long time at this level,
01:45 and we'll be trying to push them as high as we can.
01:47 Obviously, the first thing is to stay in the lead again,
01:50 and then look to try and build week on week from there,
01:52 and see how far we can go.
01:53 It's not a big jump up to the playoffs,
01:56 so that's what you've got to aim for,
01:57 but the number one priority, obviously,
01:58 is you've got to stay in the division first and foremost.
02:00 Yeah, no, my partner's been thrilled,
02:01 yet she's been watching East Fife for the last few days,
02:05 so no, we'll get plenty of homework done.
02:07 If there's one thing about myself and the managers,
02:09 we'll be well-prepared,
02:10 and certainly we'll do our work,
02:11 'cause in the manager's office, that's for certain.
02:14 So we'll just try and put the players in the best position
02:16 they possibly can to succeed,
02:18 but as everybody knows,
02:19 we don't know what's going to happen on a Saturday
02:20 with all the different variables,
02:21 but we'll be ready.