Raith Rovers front man John Baird is playing down the importance of defeating Fife neighbours Dunfermline Athletic in tomorrow’s top of the table clash despite the Stark’s Park Kit Man Brian Marr telling him that the Kirkcaldy men have to win.
Baird said, “They are all big games in this division and I accept that this one is probably a bit bigger than other games but it is the same amount of points that are up for grabs.
“A win would certainly make our fans happy and even our Kit Man Brian is joining in saying that we have to beat the Pars.”
It has taken Baird ten years to be involved in such a game and his career that started at Clyde when he was 15, has taken a few twists and turns along the way before joining the First Division leaders.
Baird said, “I was signed to the Clyde youth system when I was 15 and went full-time with them just after I turned 17. I was there for a year and a half and played once for the first team under Alan Kernaghan but I spent most of my time there working with Billy Reid and Andy Millen.”
The striker’s fledgling career at Broadwood came to an abrupt end as he explained, “Ten of the youth players at Clyde were released just before Christmas in 2006 after we lost a Youth Cup tie 3-1 to Cowdenbeath but thankfully, I was not without a club for too long.
“Andy Millen had not long moved over to Paisley to become Assistant Manager at St. Mirren and he asked me to go over there for a trial. Thankfully, the Manager there, Gus MacPherson, liked what he saw and I signed for them.
“I stayed there for three years with the first two of them being in the First Division and I played a good few times.”
The record books show Baird scoring his first ever senior goal for the Paisley Saints in a 2-1 win over a St. Johnstone side that finished with only eight men in August 2004. He came on as a substitute with 11 minutes left and scored the winner past current Scotland goalkeeper Allan McGregor who was on loan from Rangers to the Perth side at the time.
The following season, St. Mirren secured promotion and whilst it was great for the club, it was not such a good result for Baird’s playing career as he failed to feature in the SPL.
Rather than sit about brooding, Baird went out and played as he explained, “I never got much of a chance in the SPL and went out on loan to Stenhousemuir under Des McKeown.
“It started off really well however, Des resigned in the November and it all went a bit off after that and I returned to Love Street at the end of the year.
“Campbell Money came in and my deal was coming to an end so I went back to St. Mirren without too much fuss.
“I went there for games and that benefited me but it all went a bit strange with all the changes.”
Baird was not without a club for too long as Kevin McGowne, who he had played with at St. Mirren, was the Assistant Manager at Montrose and Baird was asked to go there.
“There were two months of the season to go and I knew I was being released by St. Mirren,” said Baird before adding, “So I agreed to finish the season with Montrose.”
He initially enjoyed life at Links Park saying, “I really benefited working with Kevin and the Manager Jim Weir and they really helped me. It was an easy decision to join them for the next season even though they were in the Third Division.
“They did a lot to help me and my wife settle in a new house in Perth and even managed to find her a job.
“Although it was Third Division football, I was really enjoying it and I thought that Montrose would prosper and that if I did well with them, I would go back to a full-time club.”
After losing out to Stranraer in the Play-Offs in their first full season together, Baird was about to experience a second unsettling period after a change of Manager.
He explained, “Montrose lost one game in the first quarter of season 2008/09 and Jim was sacked for reasons that will probably never be fully known.
“Just like at Stenhousemuir, it was a really unhappy period but this was worse, as we were doing well in the League.”
Before the dust had settled, Baird was going to be moving on as well as he explained, “The Chairman came in and said that if anyone wanted to leave because they were unsettled by the moves, they could go so I basically stuck my hand up and said I wanted away.
“I had joined Montrose because of Jim and Kevin so I felt it was right for me to go. I had received a few offers in the summer before I went there so I was reasonably confident that I would get a move.”
Baird is pleased that his former bosses are leading a promotion push from Brechin City now saying, “It is no surprise to me that they are doing an excellent job at Brechin now. They are good people and I hope that they carry on doing well.”
Whilst Baird puts a lot of his development down to Weir and McGowne, he is in no hurry to see them again saying, “Ideally this season, we can get promotion and Brechin can get promotion which means that we have both been successful and in different divisions again next season.”
Back in November 2008, Glebe Park was also the next stop for Baird when Michael O’Neill took him there and he was keen to tie him to the club with the striker explaining, “I went there on loan but there was quickly talk of an 18 month contract but I did not want that. I had gone to Montrose to play well and get back into things full time and I did not want tied up for that length of time.”
Despite being a part-time player in contractual terms, Baird still lived the life of a full-timer saying, “When I was a Montrose player, I looked after myself as if I was full-time. I never took a job on and would go to the gym to work out and I was also training with St. Johnstone.”
The managerial jinx that Baird had seen at Ochilview and Montrose struck for a third time at Brechin and he said, “I do not know what it is about me and Managers but Mick left shortly afterwards to go to Shamrock Rovers.
“Jim Duffy came in and again I found it very unsettling.
“There was also talk of a move to Shamrock just after all this but that never came to anything so when Airdrie offered me a full-time deal at the start of 2009, I took that and I settled there really quickly.”
The Glasgow born player made his debut at the end of January, 2009 against Partick Thistle and scored for the first time as a Diamond when he netted twice against Livingston in a 4-4 draw in the March of that year.
The Diamonds finished in ninth place and Baird netted in three of the four Play-Off games at the end of that season. However, the only game he failed to score in was crucial as Ayr United won 1-0 to send the Diamonds down to the Second Division.”
As things transpired, Airdrie were moved back into the First Division when Livingston were relegated to the Third Division for well documented reasons last year.
The move happened just as the League season was about to kick-off and Baird was left with a feeling of disappointment at the timing saying, “It was all done at really short notice and the day before the first game, we were doing practice on set pieces.
“Half the time was spent on Arbroath and the over half on Ross County. It was good to be playing at a higher level again but the way we had been preparing for the Second Division made it feel unfair.
“We struggled at the beginning but we came back into things in the latter part of the season.”
Baird scored a hat-trick in a crucial match against Ayr United that finished 4-1 at Somerset Park as Airdrie looked to claw their way out of trouble.
“We had to win that one or we were down,” said Baird who added, “I have got the match ball at home and it sits beside the two I have from scoring two hat-tricks for Montrose.”
Airdrie finished in ninth place but the Play-Offs ended in disappointing style again last season as Brechin knocked them out at the Semi-Final stage.
Baird already knew that he would be leaving the club for Kirkcaldy by then as did his Manager, Kenny Black, and team-mates as he explained, “I signed a pre-contract agreement with Raith Rovers back in February and both they and I were up front about everything with Kenny Black and everyone at Airdrie. We did everything the right way and I thought it was only right that my team-mates knew so I told them as well.”
The early announcement of his plans for the next season brought mixed emotions as Baird explains, “In some ways, I could play with a freedom as I knew what was happening to me and I had been honest with people. However, it does bring a pressure as well as you cannot let your standards slip.
“Ironically, I got sent off in my first game after I told the players when we faced Ayr United but thankfully, we got a late equaliser. They were probably not bothered about it all by the time I scored the hat-trick down at Ayr.”
The move to Kirkcaldy has worked out better than Baird could possibly have imagined as he said, “I think my TV has been turned upside down as I am looking at a different place these days. It has been a great move for me and being at the top is a totally different feeling to last year.
“We have an excellent bunch of boys at the club. I travel through in a car with Stephen Simmons, Graham Weir and Willie Dyer and it is an entertaining journey so it is all going well at the moment on and off the park.”
Baird, who has netted five times so far this season, puts his own fine start to the League campaign down to a competition for places at Rovers saying, “Up front there is Jamie Mole, Gregory Tade, Graham and myself all looking for starting places. The Manager usually only plays with two up front so you have to be on your toes all the time.”
The move to the top half of the table has meant that Baird has had to adjust to dealing with tactics he used to be part of.
He explained, “I have had to get used to a different style as I am now in a side that teams sit in against and when I was at Airdrie, it was the other way round as we would be the ones that sat in.
“That takes a bit of getting used to and Queen of the South did to us last weekend what we used to try and do to teams when I was at Airdrie.
“In saying that, I do not think the Dunfermline game will be like that.”
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