Wylde about Clyde

Clyde have the opportunity to bring a little bit of welcome relief to their season this weekend by securing a victory over East Stirlingshire and jumping off the foot of the Third Division table.

For Bully Wee Assistant Coach Gordon Wylde, it is not the position he was expecting to find the club in when he returned earlier in the year although fighting it out at the foot of the table was something he was used to when he was in charge of The ’Shire.

Back in his playing days, Wylde started off at Drumchapel Amateurs and East Stirlingshire saw off competition from Queen’s Park to sign the midfielder in 1983. 

Wylde recalled, “Eddie Hunter wanted me to go to Hampden but the offer of £14 a week at Firs Park swung it for me.”

East Stirlingshire had been a First Division side for two seasons in the early 1980s however, Wylde’s five seasons were spent in the Second Division, then the lowest tier of Scottish football. His form attracted interest from then First Division Kilmarnock and he enjoyed a rollercoaster spell at Rugby Park.

The Ayrshire club were relegated to the Second Division before bouncing straight back with Wylde saying, “I signed for Kilmarnock under Jim Fleeting and travelled to training with Tommy Burns, Tom Callaghan and Bobby Williamson. We won the Second Division Championship which was a great experience.

“Only one of us was a footballer mind you!” Wylde joked.

The now 45-year-old said, “I also picked up a serious injury playing for Kilmarnock against Partick Thistle and that really curtailed my career. Kilmarnock were moving up to the Premier Division and going full-time but I knew I was not going to be up to that.

“I had a short spell at Queen of the South to see what level I could play at but I knew it was time for me to get a job outside of football.”

Clyde were to give Wylde a home whilst they were enjoying a nomadic spell themselves and he explained, “John Clark took me to Firhill and then onto Douglas Park as we moved around grounds. Alex Smith then came in and we won the Second Division title with a side full of good players like Frank McGarvey, Stevie Morrison, Stephen Clarke and Stephen Tennant.”

The club then moved to their Broadwood base at Cumbernauld with Wylde becoming a fixture as he explained, “I was injured for the first ever game at Broadwood against Hamilton but I stayed on at Clyde for eight years in total.

“I started coaching the reserves before Alex moved on and when Gardner Speirs took over, he allowed me to start working with the first team. We had some success there and we gave Brian Carrigan his debut and he ended up being sold to Stockport County in a move that gained Clyde some revenue.”

In 1998, Ronnie MacDonald came in to take over Clyde and he brought in his own people and Gardner and I left. I moved on to St. Mirren and worked for Tom Hendrie on the youth side of things.”

In 2004, Wylde progressed from the youths at St. Mirren to First Team Coach at East Stirlingshire where he assisted Manager Dennis Newall however, he was not enjoying the role and was set to leave until fate stepped in.

Wylde explained what happened, “I was working there for a few months and I was not really enjoying it. It was in the days when all the club could afford to pay was less than the £14 a week that I signed for 20 years earlier and I was thinking of calling it a day.

“Before I could do that, Dennis left and Alan Mackin called from Spain and asked me to become the Manager. He explained the situation about signing players and as we were going to concentrate heavily on recruiting from the Pro-Youth Leagues that I knew well, I stayed on.

“I was determined that we would give kids a chance and develop them to have a career at East Stirlingshire or other clubs.”

Things started well with Wylde saying, “By season 2005/06, we had been bottom of the SFL for the previous three seasons and we were in tenth place when I started. We won three games out of five, which had not been heard of in years, and that was a huge feat with a really young team.

“My son Gregg was being coached at Rangers by this time and I saw how well he was treated by the management there and I tried to copy that. For example, we would bring fruit in for the players before games and I have to give credit to the Board at that time, as they spent £7,000 to give us a bowling green of a surface”

Despite the bright opening, The ’Shire finished in last place again and the following season was shaping up in similar fashion although there were some highlights with a Queen’s Park side that ended up being promoted being defeated 2-1 in at Firs Park and then 3-1 at Hampden.

Entrepreneur Spencer Fearn started to back East Stirlingshire midway through that season and despite finishing bottom of the pile for a fifth season, Fearn’s involvement meant that attracting players was becoming a lot easier.

Wylde said, “Things were definitely on the up and we went from offering £10 a week to £80 a week and we started bringing in better players with the likes of Andy Brand and Marc McKenzie coming in.

“In the summer of 2007, the budget was increased even further and I was getting embarrassed at how much of someone else’s money I was getting asked to spend.

“We even went on a pre-season tour to England and we defeated Morecombe, Lancaster and Chorley. Whilst they were friendlies, they were big results for us and we were playing really well.”

An opening day defeat to eventual Champions East Fife was followed by four successive victories and The ’Shire held onto the heady heights of second place for several weeks into the season.

Wylde said, “We had a player called Paul Stewart, who was with Queen’s Park last season, and East Stirlingshire knocked back £10,000 bids for him from East Fife and York City and that was unheard of at that time.  The view was that we could hold out for a better deal.

“I look back at that period as a good time and then of course, the Scottish Cup adventure came around.”

Another measure of Fearn’s ambition was seen quickly after East Stirlingshire defeated Edinburgh City 2-1 in the First Round with Wylde saying, “We were one nil down at Meadowbank Stadium and turned it round into a 2-1 win and I was delighted for Spencer and for the Chairman Les Thomson. After the game, Spencer rewarded all the players with a £100 bonus. It was a bit bizarre as the takings from the game were only £70.”

Albion Rovers were the opponents in the Second Round and they were blown away 5-1 in November 2007. The Third Round Draw pitted East Stirlingshire against Rangers with Wylde saying, “I was working away in my factory job and I heard we were drawn to play one of the big boys. The publicity generated was great but to be honest, I was dreading the game.

“Billy Stark had always told me that football was a results business and I was worried about what the result would be that night. The Sun newspaper were with us in the build up to the game and I relayed my fears to them that I felt we could take a bit of a battering.”

Wylde’s instructions to his players was simple enough as he explained, “I knew that we couldn’t win but I wanted us to keep passing. I told the boys to keep the ball, pass the ball and not to resort to just lumping it.

“Things went okay for the first period and Rangers, who had a strong squad playing, were leading 1-0 right up until half-time when we lost a second goal. Even then, I was not too downhearted.”

The ’Shire Manager told his players to keep sticking to the game plan saying, “Again it went not too badly and although we lost a third goal, we were 3-0 down with just seven minutes left. The roof fell in after that and it ended 6-0 but I was pleased overall.

“We took a fantastic support through to Ibrox that night and I thought we played the game in the manner it should be played. The boys got a bonus as well that night.”

In looking back, Wylde admits that he was nearly not in the East Stirlingshire dug out that night as he explained, “We had started slipping down the League table before the New Year and we suffered a bad defeat to Stenhousemuir on 2^nd January. We were three down at half- time and the fans were giving me terrible stick.

“It was ‘Wylde this and Wylde that’ and what made it worse was that my family were there and had to listen to it. It was not pleasant and I reckon it was probably a case of fans being disappointed that their raised expectations through Spencer’s investment were not being met.

“If we had not had the Rangers game coming up, I would have walked away then.”

Shortly afterwards, the decision whether to stay or go was taken out of Wylde’s hands as the pre-match publicity for the Rangers game came back to hurt him.

He explained, “Spencer felt I had not been positive enough in the build up to the game. I thought I had been realistic however, he was looking for something else so we decided to part company at the end of February.

“To be fair to Jim McInally, who came in after me, he did a really good job in delivering on those expectations when Spencer was still backing East Stirlingshire.”

Wylde went back to working with St. Mirren and he had made an important discovery as he commented, “I am a coach, I know that now. That is what I like doing and that is what I am best at.

“As well as Brian Carrigan, who I took to Clyde as an 8-year-old, I helped Simon Lappin and Scott Howie and they both went on to have careers at Norwich City.”

At the beginning of 2010, former club Clyde were back in touch and appointed Wylde as their Under-19 Manager and he explained, “I was not there too long before John McCormack left as Manager. Neil Watt took over the team for a short period and I helped him out.

“Neil was always going back upstairs and when Stuart Millar came in, he asked me to stay on in that role.”

Things have not worked out in the manner expected this season with Wylde saying, “We have the nucleus of a good squad but we are struggling at the moment. Supporters and everyone connected with the club are finding it difficult just now in terms of being bottom of the pile as Clyde are seen as a big club in this division.

“They are previous winners of the Scottish Cup and have a large support that is very proud of that history.

“In reality, full-time football over recent years has hurt the club financially and I reckon guys should be doing it as a hobby at this level and not their occupation. The irony is that we are the biggest club in this division and have one of the smallest budgets. We won’t borrow so we have to rely on our young lads to keep us going.”

The youngsters brought in have noticed a jump in what is required with Wylde advising, “We have good players in Haydn Cochrane, Iain Gray and Stuart Mills and they now know that the Pro-Youth level is about development but at first team level, you have to win every week.”

“It is difficult to get experience in at £50 per week as some players are not interested, which is strange especially at a club that is well placed geographically and has great facilities. It seemed easier to attract players to East Stirlingshire and that just seems strange.”

The Bully Wee go into Saturday’s game having not won in eight League games and Wylde has a message for the club’s fans saying, “East Stirlingshire are a good side and we are in for a tough game. Our away form is better than our home form and we want to get that right but we need the supporters on board. Hopefully, they can be patient with the players as we try and break East Stirlingshire down.

“We had a goalless draw at their place and are desperate to go one better this time out.”

One thing guaranteed to bring a smile to Wylde’s face during the poor run that Clyde have been on is mention of his son Gregg’s career at Rangers.

He said, “He made his first start last week against Kilmarnock in The Co-operative Insurance Cup and I am really proud of him and not just as a footballer.”

Wylde continued, “I am proud of him because of his attitude as you need a good attitude in life. He will be one of the first in for training every day, he is polite and he will also tidy up any mess he makes at Murray Park and you cannot ask for much more.

“He gets to train with the first team each day and he is learning from some really experienced players.

“Walter Smith is a great Manager and I rate him alongside the likes of Harry Redknapp and Sir Alex Ferguson.

“Gregg is getting an opportunity because of the financial situation at Rangers but hopefully, he will take that chance.  He is under the right people like Kenny McDowall who he started working with at Celtic before both of them moved over to Ibrox.”