Ross County

As you may already be aware, even though the time frame for
this blog series begins with the start of the SPL, the players from which our
contributors can choose from do not necessarily have to had played in that
league. For some clubs (Aberdeen, Hearts, Kilmarnock etc) this is
inconsequential, however for Ross County it enables them to be a part of this
blog series; seeing as the club are currently spending their first year in the
top flight and, by all accounts, are performing admirably. Still, even though
they have spent the last 13 years outside of the premier league consciousness,
there are plenty of well known “footballers” that appear in this
side. John Maxwell writes.

Goalkeeper

Allan Creer.  Creer
arrived as a back-up goal-keeper in Ross
County’s Second Division
campaign in 2007-08, but played four games in succession, culminating in an
embarrassing 2-4 defeat at home to Ayr United. Creer couldn’t hold on to any
shot that night and was haunted by a hat-trick by an over-confident Ryan
Stevenson who took snap-shots from any distance and angle – Stevenson could
have finished with a handful. A goal-keeper who cannot stop shots is a rare
sight – that was his last game at the club before being released.

Defence

Jamie McCunnie.  There
are few players more symbolic of Alex Smith’s underwhelming time at Ross County
than McCunnie. Coming from Dundee United, McCunnie thought that he was too good
for Ross County and the First Division, despite
never actually showing why on the football pitch. Naturally a right-back who
could take the ball forward with reasonable competence, Smith went through a
phase of believing that McCunnie’s passive-aggressive style of sulking out of
passages of play was suited to central midfield, meaning that one of a trio of
Charlie Adam, Don Cowie or John Rankin had to sit out entirely.

David Cowan.  Another
defender during the Smith era, Cowan was in his early 20s when at Victoria Park
but was lambasted for having a lack of confidence to do anything with the
football when given time and space on the flank. Cowan went on to have more
successful spells at Dundee and Gretna
where he was better appreciated.

Lionel Djebi-Zadi. 
Part cult hero; part bombscare. Djebi-Zadi terrorised his own defence as
much as others. He was never a truly awful player over 90 minutes, but had
problems with confidence in his own physical strength. Balance seemed to be an
issue for him as well, often resembling a foal on an ice rink. 

Midfield

Darren Brady.  Brady
has always been well thought of by Dick Campbell, who took him to Victoria Park
from Partick Thistle. However, Brady found himself to be a midfielder who kept
himself away from the play, lumped the ball forward quickly when he had it and
occasionally followed through on the opposite player. The archetypal Campbell signing.

David Hannah. Arriving in Dingwall with a big reputation,
Hannah anchored the midfield with the swagger of a big-game player, but without
the tactical nous nor the passing guile to suggest that he was good enough for
the First Division. Hitting a lamp post and consequently being convicted of
drink driving did not help win over local supporters – that was probably the
most eventful moment in his Ross
County career.

Stuart Taylor.  Taylor was not
necessarily a bad player. He had everything needed to be what Martin Hardie
recently was to Dunfermline and is now to
Greencock Morton: a physical midfielder who gets into the penalty box to score
crucial goals. At Ross County, Taylor
spent most of his time on the treatment table, got himself suspended on
numerous occasions and seemed to leave the club with a chip on his shoulder. In
truth, he probably should not have been allowed to sign amid rumours of an
inadequate medical examination.

Craig Gunn.  This
writer feels particularly dirty for including a cult hero in the SFL, but
during his time at Ross County he never lived up to the potential that he had.
Rumoured to have been negatively affected by Alex Smith’s assistant Jimmy
Bone’s aggressive man-management, ‘Shot’ Gunn only found more regular
appearances under Scott Leitch. Unfortunately for Gunn – a natural
centre-forward with pace to burn – he was often deployed as an out-and-out winger,
without the experience in the position nor the skillset to be a success.

Attack

Malik Rezgane.  The
Italian Stallion only ever featured for County once, for ten minutes. In a
match more notable for Leigh Griffiths’s senior debut for Livingston,
the ex-Triestina player did nothing of any note – a tumble over the ball was
the sum total of his contribution at the club. Rezgane retired after his short
stay in Scotland.

John Stewart.  Derek
Adams looked for an imposing figure up front in County’s return to the First
Division. He never found it in Stewart, who always seemed a yard off the pace
and shy of getting his head to the ball. Despite scoring the club’s 1000th
league goal in senior football – it had to be him – there was no goal threat
nor ability to link with others. One notorious 0-0 at Firhill saw Stewart come
off the bench in an off-side position and never recovering from it.

Gary McSwegan.  The
ultimate white elephant in Alex Smith’s expensive portfolio. It was alleged
that McSwegan signed without a full medical and spent most of his three-year,
supposed £1,000 per week deal declared injured. When fit, there were rare
flashes of intelligence in his running, but by then he was too slow around the
box to be a danger to opponents. In the Challenge Cup Final in 2005 against
Falkirk, with Ross County chasing a late equaliser, Smith preferred to send on
clumsy centre-half Stuart Malcolm as a makeshift striker instead of McSwegan.
Previously scoring for Rangers in the Champions League, McSwegan netted once in
nearly three seasons at Victoria Park.

Manager

This Ross
County select must be
looked after by Willie McStay, who managed no wins from nine matches and whose
team looked less likely to score, let alone win, with each passing moment.
Derek Adams’s successor in 2010 brought in players he was familiar with but who
didn’t improve the squad; he used a number of players in unfamiliar positions;
and didn’t he know how to change the pattern of a match when things took a turn
for the worse.

If you’d like to read more of John’s work then we recommend
the brilliant Tell Him He’s Pele, which has everything you’d ever want for your
SFL needs. Also, be sure to check out the incredibly detailed Ross County
Tactics which, while on hold for now, is a must view site for the ins football
fan. Alternatively, follow him on twitter.