John Hughes reckons he will still be able to call upon the valuable expertise of Brian Rice after his long-time assistant manager was named the new boss of Alloa Athletic.
The Pars are based at the Wasps’ Indodrill Stadium on a daily basis and, with Rice living close to the ground, he has been a regular visitor to training.
Hughes has praised his close friend for providing ‘eyes, ears and a good sounding board’ as the Fifers seek to secure Championship survival.
And while Rice’s priority is now dragging Alloa up the League 1 standings, the Dunfermline manager predicts that he’ll still be on hand for advice.
“Brian has been good eyes, ears and a sounding board,” said Hughes. “Not just for me, but for the coaches, Steven [Whittaker] and Greg [Shields].
“He only stays five minutes from Alloa, where we’ve been training, and it was good for him to come in.
“It’s the same when John Collins comes along. You get him to come along and look at the game.
“You would be stupid if you didn’t take counsel and phone them up and ask, ‘what did you see, what can we improve on?’ Sometimes you might not agree. That’s the way football works.
“But Brian has been with me for a number of years and everybody knows how much of a football guy he is.”
Hughes added: “I still think he’ll pop up every now and again on the training pitch, with Alloa being part-time. What else is he going to do? It’s not golfing weather!”
‘Taking credit’
Rice, who assisted Hughes at Falkirk, Hibernian and Inverness, has been out of work since departing Hamilton in August 2021.
And Hughes expects the former Dunfermline midfielder to relish the challenge in Clackmannanshire.
“With [chairman] Mike Mulraney there, he’s going into a good club and I can only wish him all the best,” added Hughes.
“I think he was at their game on Saturday and they won 2-1 [against Dumbarton] — so I don’t know if he’s already taking credit for that!
“But he’s a good coach and a good football guy. It’s important these guys stay in the game.”
Meanwhile, Dunfermline have welcomed striker Bobby Kamwa back to full training.
The on-loan Leeds forward was a notable absentee for the Pars’ last league outing against Kilmarnock due to injury. However, he is expected to be in contention to face the Ayrshire outfit at East End Park on Saturday.
Kamwa has made two appearances totalling 28 minutes since arriving in January.
