Wounds from Dundee exit still raw as Scott seeks cup tonic

Jocky Scott cannot be accused of masking his true feelings.

Stirling Albion’s manager will look to oversee a William Hill Scottish Cup upset against Dundee at Forthbank this afternoon with not-so distant history in mind. One of Scotland’s most senior coaches will be lacking nothing by way of motivation.

Scott remains an iconic figure at Dens Park, a member of Dundee’s hall of fame and manager of the club on three separate occasions.

The last one proved the most harrowing. Dundee’s troubles were subsequently to stretch way beyond on-field form, but the sacking of Scott last year with the team at the summit of the First Division raised eyebrows. Thereafter, Dundee were swatted aside in the championship race by Inverness.

Scott isn’t of a mind to forgive two men, ex-Dundee chairman Bob Brannan and Calum Melville, the businessman whose funds were supposed to prompt a bright new dawn at Dens, for that move. The duo may no longer be at Dundee, but Scott’s sentiment remains.

“I am obviously still angry and bitter about it because Dundee would have been in the Premier League had Brannan and Melville not done what they did,” Scott says.

“I’m convinced we would have been in the SPL. I am still bitter at those two. But I am no longer at the club so that’s it, I just have to face up to things.”

Scott has no such ill-feeling towards the current Dundee manager, Barry Smith, and the club’s supporters. After the onset of administration, Smith took his team on an excellent run last season which defied a points deduction. It was Scott’s Stirling, rather than Dundee, who tumbled into the Second Division.

“Barry did well, the team did well but I thought the biggest thing that carried the club through that spell was the fans,” Scott explains. “They stuck with it, they supported the team through thick and thin. They had a cause and a fight because of the situation they found themselves in.”

Scott is similarly candid about his current situation. While obviously grateful to be in management – “it is ridiculous, the number of quality coaches who are out of work in Scotland” – the 63-year-old finds part-time coaching frustrating.

“It is totally different for me, the part-time element and I must admit I take bad with it sometimes,” Scott says. “We only train two nights a week, which means you don’t have the time and opportunity to work on things you feel you should be working on.

“If you play a midweek game, the first thing you want to do is get in the next morning and work on any faults. We can’t do that. We have to wait a few days, and then you are always conscious that fitness is an issue so you have to work on that.

“It is difficult and I find it difficult. But I have a good bunch of boys at the club so working with them is good.”

Stirling may benefit from a break from league business. They have lost five matches in succession, failing to score a single goal during that run and falling to the foot of Division Two. Bluntness in front of goal is, clearly, Scott’s main concern.

“That’s exactly it,” he says. “We have lost five on the trot but there is only one of those games, against Cowdenbeath, in which we didn’t create chances. In the rest, we have created chances but not taken them. I am convinced we will start to score again and, when we do, that will give us confidence.”

Scott’s involvement gives added spice to the third-round match. Nonetheless, the manager is more interested in the potential kick-starting of Stirling’s campaign. Scott uses “unfortunate” to describe Stirling’s draw, at a time when there was the potential for non-league or Third Division opposition.

“Last season, Dundee brought 1500 fans with them so it would be nice if that happened again, to give the game a bit of atmosphere,” says Scott.

“We have been performing okay although results have gone badly. A wee break from the league might do us good, we’ll have to wait and see. But we will go out and treat it, play it, as a cup tie.”