Newly appointed Elgin City manager Barry Wilson hopes his time in charge at Highland League Wick Academy has taught him what kind of manager he wants to be as he makes the step up to League Two.
The 41-year-old had high praise for the Harmsworth Park side that gave him his first managerial job back in October 2012 but admits working at a higher level is what attracted him to return to Borough Briggs where he was previously a player and assistant to Ross Jack who departed recently.
Wilson said: “I loved my time at Wick, they are a great club with great people and I can’t talk highly enough of them. I learned a lot while being there, like what type of manager I am. When I was an assistant it was easy, you put your opinion in and it either gets listened to or it doesn’t - as the manager it gets listened to. Being a manager you need to find your feet and find out if you are going to be a talker or more aggressive. I do feel I have learned a lot and I feel that I am the manager that if things aren’t going well I tend to change things pretty quickly.”
“I was attracted to the job at Elgin as it is giving me a chance to work at a higher level and it will give me a chance to see if I can handle it and if I do then great.”
Prior to moving to Wick, Wilson and Jack guided Elgin to the playoffs for the first time since joining the Scottish Leagues back in 2000.
Jack and Elgin parted company on 22nd January 2014 after five years in charge of the club and Wilson admitted it was a strange scenario as he was still friends with his former partner.
He explained: “I was made favourite for the job pretty quickly and it didn’t help with the fact that I was still friends with Ross and I was sad for him losing his job, it was a strange one but the club done everything the proper way.”
“It feels good to be back at the club. Taking training for the first time last Tuesday was a bit strange but everything is starting to calm down a bit now after a few hectic days. I am looking forward to the new challenge.”
Elgin currently sit 9th in League two and Wilson aims to get them back in the mix for promotion come the end of the season.
Wilson who saw service with Ross County, Southampton, Raith Rovers, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Livingston, Queen of the South, Peterhead and Elgin during an over 20 year playing career added: “I don’t want to come in and start shouting that we can still get promotion. The players have told me that they believe they can do it, and if they believe it then so do I, but it is one thing believing it and another thing doing it. Looking at it just now we are nine points behind, that is a lot but there is time to do it if we start quickly.”
One difficulty the 41-year-old highlighted is that few of the first team players train together. Elgin currently have a number of players from the Central belt and Aberdeenshire who travel only for games leaving numbers low at training in Inverness. Wilson aims to increase this number during his time as manager.
Wilson, whose dad Bobby was manager of Ross County when they made the step up to the SFL in 1994, said: “It is definitely an issue as a manager not having the whole team training together. There is a difference between training and coaching, and if you can only get five or six of your first team together then you can only train them. You can’t coach them and work on defensive shape or set pieces. It was something that the chairman spoke to me about and it is something that I totally agreed on.”
“When I was here as assistant we had built it up a little and we were coaching eight or nine of the eleven in Inverness so I think it is important that I get it back to that number as quickly as possible.”
“Saying that it would be folly for me to come and say that we are going to be an all North squad, I think that there is still definitely a place for the boys from the south but I will be making a concerted effort to try and sign more players from up north.”
“I still know a lot of the boys but I had forgotten a couple of the younger boys names who have grown up a lot in the couple of years that I have been away. It was hard as we only had 10 at training on Tuesday night but it means they work harder, it was full on and the tempo was great. It is tricky training with such small numbers so that is something I really need to try and increase for the benefit of the players and for myself.”
Wilson was announced as Elgin manager just a few days before the January transfer window closed and admitted he didn’t know enough about his squad in order to make valuable additions.
He explained: “I could have taken in a couple of players from Ross County and maybe from Caley but I wouldn’t have known whether they would be the right player because I had not seen enough of the team yet. After I have a look at my squad I will know what I need and then I can be more specific in what I need to take in to improve the squad.”
Wilson believes his first game in charge against Albion Rovers last weekend showed him that he has plenty to work with and that the squad has character. Rovers took the lead in the second half through a Scott Chaplain penalty but Jamie Duff pulled one back for Elgin.
He said: “They showed a bit of character against Albion Rovers, it’s easy to say that when you go 1 nil down and get one back and it is sometimes a cliché but I really thought they did. They drove forward and fought for it, so I learned a bit about the squad and there is plenty to work with that’s for sure. They were disappointed in the dressing room that they didn’t win the game but we move onto next week against East Stirlingshire.”
By Louise Shaw
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