Raith Rovers boss Grant Murray has spoken of his surprise at seeing his Dumbarton counterpart sacked so early in the season and expressed sympathy for managers who find themselves in similar predicaments.
Murray was speaking after the Sons, who are four points adrift at the foot of Division One, decided on Monday to part company with Alan Adamson, just nine games into the league campaign, despite Adamson leading Dumbarton to promotion via the play-offs last season.
After a relatively good start to his own managerial career, Murray admitted he feels for his opposite number and suggested more time might have helped Adamson turn things around.
”Dumbarton, over the last few years, have been up and down, they’ve had good seasons and bad seasons, and then they get themselves into the First Division, which is tremendous for them,” he said.
”At the end of the day, if you get promoted you are winning games and that’s what they did last season.
”Whether it was through the play-offs or what, it was a great achievement.
”It’s always going to be difficult at the start of season, as Alan’s signing new players, he’s bringing players in to come and play in the First Division and it’s a very tight division.
”But I was quite impressed with Dumbarton when we played them at Stark’s Park and other managers have touched on it.
”Dumbarton have started well against teams and, after speaking to Alan when they played us here, he felt his team were playing well enough but they just never had that edge in that they were getting the first goal.
”He felt that they were going behind and the heads were going down.
”So I think it was unfortunate for him that this has happened there’s only a quarter of the season gone but they’ve reacted and made a decision.”
Having said all that, though, Murray is quick to acknowledge the implications for football clubs who drop down a division in the current financial climate.
Dundee boss Barry Smith is coming under pressure from some quarters to try to keep the Dark Blues in the SPL, while Brechin cited the importance of staying in the Second Division as one of the reasons behind the sacking of Jim Weir last month.
”Clubs sometimes react to situations and, at the end of the day, that’s part and parcel of being a manager,” Murray continued.
”You always know that that’s there, or it could come along at any time, and a lot of clubs do want instant success and boards react to that or fans have a lot to say.
”At the end of the day, they pay their money and they are entitled to their opinion.
”It would be great if every manager had two, three, four years to go and build a squad or build an academy to bring teams right through.
”It is difficult, though, and the financial situation in Scotland can be very difficult on teams if they go out of the league they are performing in.
”For teams to go out of the SPL, money-wise and income-wise, it can be a big, big hit, but the First Division is the exact same for a lot of teams that are in it.
”Instant success is a big thing in Scottish football because there isn’t a lot of money there at this moment in time.”
Meanwhile, East Fife youth coach Colin Martin has passed the new UEFA Advanced Youth Licence.
Martin, who not only coaches the Methil club’s young full-time squad but takes charge of reserve games, has been studying towards the qualification for the past eight months.