Scott Boyd, the Ross County defender, is determined to use the shock sacking of Derek Adams to jolt his side into action this season.
Adams was relieved of his duties as manager on Thursday alongside football director, and father, George. The news was relayed to the squad during training that morning and was met with stunned silence. "Shock is the only word to describe it," said Boyd.
The 28-year-old - who has spent the last seven years of his career with the Dingwall side - was unable to retreat into a state of revery, though, instead he was plunged into the role of coach. It is a temporary appointment, a responsibility which he will share with club captain Richard Brittain and Adams' erstwhile assistant Steven Ferguson, but which was given to him with as much subtlety as though it had been dispensed from an ice bucket held above his head.
Boyd has seized the opportunity, though, and has helped prepare the Highland side for the trip to face Hamilton Academical today in search of County's first league points of the season. Prospective new managers Danny Lennon and Terry Butcher may also watch the game closely, although it is unlikely that a decision will be made on Adams' successor until after the international break.
Until then, Boyd is content to keep his squad ticking over. "Just like you guys in the press, the players had no inkling this was about to happen when we reported for training on Thursday morning," he said.
"You get up and get ready for work just like any other day and then arrive at the club to be told this has happened. As professionals, all we could do was to carry on as best we could to prepare for a very important match against Hamilton.
"Steven Ferguson, thankfully, is a guy who is held in the highest respect by the players so it was ideal to have him come in and calm things down and get us focused on the work in hand. That was important once we knew the gaffer was gone."
The shock of Adams' sacking also reached as far as New Douglas Park, with Alex Neil acknowledging that he was taken aback by County's decision to dispense with a manager who led the Highland club to fifth and seventh-place finishes in the top flight in successive seasons. The Hamilton player-manager added too that he knows how "addictive" the job will have been to Adams.
"When you are getting highs as Derek has done for a number of years and we have in the last year, it does become addictive, there is no question of that," said the Hamilton manager. "I am enjoying it a lot more than I did at the start. Once you pick up a few losses, I am not going to lie, it does prey on your mind.
"With Derek's success up there, I am hoping that it shouldn't be long before he finds himself another job in football."
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