Queen of the South v Ross County: Son rises for calderwood

Published on Friday 8 April 2011 19:47

JIMMY CALDERWOOD is mulling matters over. "To be honest, I hadn't even thought about that. Every game for us just now is like a cup final, so I haven't given this one much thought yet but, yeah, now you mention it, that would be really special," he says, casting a glance at the man sitting beside him and breaking into a grin which is laced heavily with paternal pride.

This afternoon the Ross County manager will put thoughts of league positions and a possible play-off place out of his mind as he leads his team into the final of the Alba Challenge Cup against Queen of the South and he will do it with his son, Scott, alongside. The chance to combine a little bit of football and family history may not have been foremost in their thoughts but now that the seed has been planted the Calderwoods are keen to make the moment one worth treasuring.

"To win a cup is always special but to do it with my son alongside me, yeah, the more I think about it, that would be something really nice," says the former Dunfermline, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock manager. "We worked together when he was still playing and I brought him to Willem II when I was manager there but I don't think I was very fair on the boy. I was tougher on him than the rest of the players because I didn't want anyone to think I was favouring him and I went too far the other way but this time we are working together and it's been good."

The 'boy' is now 33 and has been a coach in his own right for a number of years back in Holland. He jokes that his dad has never admitted his unfairness before but says he has long been willing to forgive and forget. Rattling through his coaching badges as he has over the past five years, Calderwood Jr can now understand the pressure his father was under back then. But with his playing days behind him, he is looking to carve out his own niche in the managerial world and the internship at Victoria Park is providing a worthwhile education.

His father says: "He has been doing well, he is ambitious and I think he has a future in this and I needed somebody I could trust and if you can't trust your own son, you have a problem. It has been a great learning curve for him. But when I called him I think he thought I was kidding him on. It was something we had talked about and I think he always liked the idea of working with me but he knew I had a close thing with (former assistants] Jimmy (Nicholl] and Sandy (Clark] and even big Craig (Brewster] as well to be honest with you. So, maybe he was surprised because he knew he wasn't first choice or even second choice."

"Knowing the relationship between my dad and Jimmy and Sandy I knew it would be hard to get the nod," says Scott, "but I was always hoping to get that chance so when it came I had no doubts at all. The only doubt was leaving my family behind in Holland for now but I knew what I was doing it for, it's football, and at the moment it's just short-term so I had no doubts."

"Aye, that's because he is getting his house extended," says his dad, chuckling, "and this way he has escaped all the mess! It wasn't exactly a bad time for him to be away!"

If there was tension caused by the family link when they worked together in the past, it is not evident now. This time they are more relaxed. The two men have strikingly similar mannerisms and in terms of personality both mask a burning ambition and hatred of failure behind jovial exteriors. That convivial nature is apparently in the genes, and even if media-savvy dad occasionally displays a protectiveness in answering for his son who is less experienced in that domain, there is also a respect that is, crucially, mutual.

This time there is no need to fear accusations of nepotism. As far as both are concerned, the son has earned the right to manage alongside the father, the credentials bear testimony to that. Not that they didn't back in the days when Scott played in Holland alongside household names such as Jaap Stam and Sami Hyypia, before successive knee injuries curtailed his career.

The difference now is that as a colleague rather than a serf, Scott is entitled to a louder voice. And dad even listens. "I think I have always listened to my people," said the older man. "Especially with Jimmy and Sandy, I would have my opinions but if they both disagreed with tactics or team selection I would listen to then and sometimes I would even change my mind! It's the same now. Scott will say what he thinks and I take it and think about it."

"But I know my place," concedes Scott. "I think that's the secret. I know that dad has the final say but I am getting better at speaking up."

The hours spent together in the Highlands have helped foster an even stronger relationship. Both graduates of the Dutch leagues and both students of Dutch coaching styles, father and son's philosophies on the game are aligned. It has always been that way, from the outset.

It wasn't a given, though. With a successful parent casting a shadow, children either rebel completely or immerse themselves wholeheartedly in the world they are0 born into. For Scott it was always the latter. "I have always loved the game, always been interested. I didn't see it as a problem following dad," says Scott, for whom rebellion was never an option. "We always talked about football."

"I always encouraged him," adds his father. "It was the same with his sister who was a very good tennis player. I don't think I was ever pushy but I did want him to make the best of what he had and because of the knee injuries I think he did. He had tough times but he pulled himself out of them and he has worked hard."

And the endeavour is ongoing. Even with his own business outside football, the game has always remained Scott's passion. "That's why I think he will be good," says his dad, "because I can tell it means so much to him."

That point has been rammed home as the pair have worked closely to try to engineer Ross County's elevation from the play-off spot allocated to the team which finishes second bottom of the First Division. Coming from the Dutch game, where technical ability and a familiarity with the ball are commonplace, there has been the need for Scott to adapt. Both he and his father refuse to run down the Scottish game, extolling certain values but accepting the deficiencies as well, and Scott says that he has had to learn quickly to channel that information properly.

"I think it does help that I have my first job here with dad because you have to realise that things that would work in Holland won't work here. There have been things I would have done differently to dad, even if I haven't said it, but then we have played the game and I have thought, 'yeah, if we had done it my way, it wouldn't have worked'. He knows the Scottish game better than me but I am learning. Fast."

The biggest difficulty has been discovering that, to a point, he is stranger in his own land. "At first it was strange because I am not used to thinking about footballing terms in English and it was a bit frustrating at first because I was having to translate them quickly in my mind and sometimes by the time I had done that the split second when it mattered had passed."

Dad sits up, suddenly engrossed. "I didn't know that," he says. "But I was talking to Jimmy (Nicholl] the other week about something and saying that I had done that when I first came over and he just laughed. He said that I used to shout stuff that no-one understood. I thought I was translating it in my head but obviously sometimes I didn't. All that time and he didn't even tell me. He said that him and the players all just laughed about it."

Alba cup final

Queen of the South v Ross County

Today, 3pm, BBC Alba

It's unlikely Calderwood would subject his own son to such treatment. He and Jimmy Nicholl may be as close as brothers but blood remains the greatest bond of all.