You famously had a nomadic career,
appearing for 22 clubs over 34 years.
How do you think playing for such an
eclectic cast of managers helped you
in your current role?
Management is an instinct for me – no
one can teach you to become a good
judge of character, or how to manage
players. When I make a decision, I’ve
got to consider how I’d have felt when
I was playing, so I’m upfront with the
team. I think I learned more about how
not to manage from everyone I played
under. Take John Beck at Cambridge:
he taught me a lot in terms of how to
manage my diet and extend my career,
but he wasn’t the type to ever admit he
was wrong. Now, as a manager, I try
to admit my errors and find solutions.
The best boss I played for was probably
Martin O’Neill at Leicester. He got the
basics right. He signed the right players,
put them in the right system and set us
up so that we played to our strengths.
Between 2005 and 2006 you played
for seven different clubs, including
Bournemouth and Walsall. Was all
that upheaval in your playing career
not unsettling?
No, as I didn’t have a family then. I had
my children once I’d stopped playing.
The last thing I wanted to do was get in
from a game late on a Saturday night,
and be thinking about driving back to
wherever the family home was on the
Sunday. I was prepared to do anything
and go anywhere to play – that’s how
much I loved the game. It just became
second nature to keep moving around.
But I was often living alone in a hotel,
and after 25 years it takes its toll a bit.
After retiring you were a well-known
face on television, spending years as
a pundit on the BBC’s Football League
Show. Do you ever wonder why you
left such a cushty gig to manage in
the lower leagues?
No! This is what I’ve always wanted to
do. Look, the TV stuff sustained me – it
kept me busy – but it didn’t satisfy me.
It paid very well but it came at a huge
cost in other ways. It stopped me doing
what I feel I need to do – to pass on my
knowledge and to help players be the
best they can be. Compared to what
I do now, even at this level, the TV work
doesn’t compare.
You seem as in love with the game as
ever. Can you possibly imagine a life
after football?
Unfortunately, I’m one of those people
who’s addicted to football. I can’t think
of a life beyond it and expect I’ll always
have a hand in the game in some way.
That’s just the guy I am, and I accept
it. Maybe I’m a little one-dimensional
but I love it. Football is my life. The only
person I need to satisfy is myself... and
perhaps my chairman. [Laughs]
Most fans dream of owning a team- but for best-selling crime author
Val McDermid, it’s been bittersweet.
A supporter and ex-board member
of hometown club Raith Rovers, she
also injected a small fortune into
the Scottish Championship side as
their shirt sponsor.
But that soon ceased when the club
signed David Goodwillie in January.
In 2017, the former Blackburn striker
was ruled to be a rapist in a civil
court alongside ex-team-mate David
Robertson. Their victim was awarded
£100,000 from each man, but both
claimed bankruptcy and never paid
a penny – all while Goodwillie played
for Clyde, with whom he netted 109
goals and became their club captain.
Rumours of his proposed transfer
alerted McDermid, who tells FFT he’d
been ruled out as a target during her
tenure on the board. “I spoke to the
chief executive [Karen Macartney],
who looked at me straight in the face
and said, ‘Oh, he’s not coming here –
we don’t want people like that in the
club, absolutely not’.”
So when Raith went against their
word, McDermid – who has sold more
than 17 million books worldwide –
revoked her sponsorship. “I love the
club, it’s part of my DNA, but this was
something I simply couldn’t follow,”
she says. “He [Goodwillie] has never
shown remorse or regret. People have
said it’s an act of bravery [revoking the
sponsorship], but it was a no-brainer.
I’m a staunch supporter of campaigns
against violence towards women and
girls, so it seemed pretty obvious that
I couldn’t associate myself with this.”
Others followed her lead – including
the entire female squad, who cut ties
with their parent club. Long-serving
skipper Tyler Rattray tweeted: “I want
nothing to do with it.”
However, the team lives on, and in
February they played their first game
as an independent outfit. “They’ve
called themselves McDermid Ladies,
to my embarrassment,” chuckles the
author. “I asked them not to but they
were adamant. There’s a tremendous
camaraderie among the group, and
a collective spirit that’s heartening to
see – a bunch of young women who
are there for each other.”
McDermid now goes to watch her
eponymous team after vowing not to
visit Stark’s Park while Goodwillie is on
the wage bill. The striker was loaned
back to Clyde in March, only for his
old club to renege on the deal amid
uproar from female players, directors,
MPs and North Lanarkshire Council.
The saga has proved painful for
McDermid, whose father Jim scouted
for Rovers and would take her on his
spying missions. McDermid Snr even
unearthed one of Britain’s most gifted
players in Jim Baxter, who famouslyhelped to humble world champions
England 3-2 at Wembley in 1967.
“He discovered Baxter playing for
Crossgates Primrose – he was working
down the pit on £3 a week,” explains
McDermid. “My dad said, ‘We’ll give
you £6 a week to play for Raith, son’.
He was with us for 18 months before
going on to Rangers. My dad said that
a blind man could have scouted Jim
Baxter, but he did it.” He also spotted
Ian Porterfield, who hit Sunderland’s
winner in the 1973 FA Cup Final.
“For the first time in 34 years, I’m
glad my dad isn’t here as this would
have broken his heart. Latterly at the
time of his death, he was the turnstile
manager at Stark’s Park. He always
maintained his association with Raith- it’s been a heartbreaking process.”
McDermid is committed to seeing
her namesakes thrive as they battle
through the controversy. “They have
a spirit of ‘we won’t let each other
down and we’ll do whatever it takes’.
They’re not making any money out of
this. They’re not doing it for anything
other than love of it. My name is in
the headlines because I’m a public
figure, but it’s not about me. I just
don’t want to support a team that’s
racist, homophobic or anti-women,
and we should all start to think about
the wider meaning of what we’re
doing with our Saturday afternoons.”
Chris Sweeney
CRIME AnD PUnISHMEnT
Best-selling author Val McDermid withdrew sponsorship from her beloved Raith
Rovers when they signed David Goodwillie. Now, she fronts a brand new team...SCOTTISH nEWS
“I LOVE THE CLUB, IT’S
In MY DnA – BUT THIS
OnE WAS A nO-BRAInER”
AROUnD THE
GROUnDS