SFL Focus

As he sets out in management, Colin Cameron has at least two things going for him.

Not only did he play under some excellent coaches – Jimmy Nicholl, Jim Jefferies and Dave Jones are afforded special praise by Cameron himself – but the ex-Scotland midfielder is at a club that has a recent history of producing managers for bigger things. Craig Levein, the current Scotland manager, started out at Central Park while Danny Lennon, currently enjoying second-season success at St Mirren, stepped into the Premier League from the same Fife club.

Cameron has no public aspirations of emulating his predecessors. “I’m not thinking about that at all,” he claims. “I’m just thinking about getting this club back into the First Division.”

He has a theory, though, as to why Cowdenbeath is a place where managers can blossom.

“I played in teams with Craig and Danny so I am obviously delighted to see them do well,” Cameron says.

“This does seem to be a club from which managers can go on to bigger things, and that’s no disrespect to Cowdenbeath. Managers are able to express themselves here. That’s a credit to Cowdenbeath Football Club. The club embraces whoever is in charge, lets them be their own person. It is a club that stands by you; at other places, you are in trouble after two or three bad results.”

Typically, Cameron refuses to cite just one of the managers under whom he played as particularly influential. Rather, and sensibly, he seeks to carry on the best attributes of all of them.

Cameron owes a special debt of gratitude to Donald Findlay, the club chairman who maintained Cowdenbeath’s recent tradition of giving young managers a start.

“The chairman gave me an opportunity and I want to repay that,” Cameron adds. “It has always been the case that our aim is promotion. Even when I spoke to the chairman about this job, I said to him I wasn’t interested in anything other than promotion. He felt the same, we were on the same lines right away.”

Cameron’s insistence that the Cowdenbeath directors have backed him in this, his first season in management, is backed up by the personnel at his disposal.

Added to a blend of youthful talent and those who have impressed at lower league level before, Cameron has coaxed Jordan Morton and Kal Naismith on loan from Hearts and Rangers respectively. Jon Robertson, Cowdenbeath’s club captain, is only 22.

The early on-field signs are encouraging. Last weekend’s derby win over East Fife left Cameron’s team joint second in Division Two. Above them by two points lie Arbroath. The common theme is that at Gayfield Paul Sheerin, like Cameron, operates as a player manager. To date, the pair are belying the theory that such a position can be troublesome.

“I know Paul relies a lot on his assistant, Stewart Petrie,” Cameron says. “At the start, I know Paul felt there was too much pressure and he was bringing too much upon himself but he has used Stewart to balance that.

“I have Lee Makel alongside me, and it is similar. Lee has been a manager in Sweden, he knows what it is all about. I can play and look after myself with Lee having a different view of things from the sidelines. So far, it has proved a good blend and one that is working.”

Cameron was well aware of his reputation as a player and team mate; as someone who wasn’t shy to moan on the pitch. “I am not one bit different now,” he laughs. “That’s just the way I am.

“I want to win. If I am not doing it on the pitch, I expect other people to have a go at me and vice versa. Hopefully that attitude keeps everybody on their toes.”

Cameron puts early success down to an opportunity to bed into his role. After Jimmy Nicholl departed Cowdenbeath to assist Kenny Shiels at Kilmarnock, Cameron was given his chance. Crucially, that was neither mid-season nor on account of bad results.

“I was given time to get used to things,” Cameron says. “I had a pre-season with the players, I could find my feet. That was important, I think, because I could get to grips with the job as opposed to being thrown in there halfway through a season.”

Cameron’s promotion quest continues at Dumbarton this afternoon.

At this rate, Cowdenbeath’s results will be more of a determining factor in this manager’s ascent than his playing experience, or those who have followed a similar career path.