GARY Naysmith received a call from a friend recently which served as a reminder about just how hard this management lark can be.
“I only came into the club [East Fife] in December 2013 and a mate told me that I was the 10th longest serving manager in Scotland after 18 months. That tells you how difficult it is,” said Naysmith, stunned at being considered “long-serving”.
It would also surprise many to see Naysmith as a manager at all. He was always known as a happy-go-lucky guy, who took his football seriously and became a fine player, but a gaffer with all those responsibilities? Never.
“I got to 29 or 30 and I was picking up injuries so I found myself watching all sorts of games,” Naysmith said. “I can’t remember the game in question, but the manager did something and I thought ‘I wouldn’t have done that’ and it was then I started to think about coaching.
“I was at Huddersfield and my manager there, Lee Clark, had done a course in Northern Ireland and pushed me in that direction. I kept going over there and last year got my pro-licence.
“It was harder than I thought. It took me right out of my comfort zone. We were over at the Uefa head- quarters in Switzerland and I had to stand up and give an interview in front of 300 people. I got questions fired at me off the cuff and at the end of it you had to watch yourself back and people get the chance to criticise. It was embarrassing.”
Embarrassment aside, Naysmith loved the work and it helped him get the job at East Fife. He is determined to get his club promoted out of a tough division.
“When I took over we were bottom of League One and I didn’t manage to keep us up,” he said. “No matter what anyone says, that is now on my CV. So I want to get us promotion. I would like a full-time club and that is only going to happen if I do well at East Fife so there is no point in looking further forward than bringing success here.
“We reached the play-offs last year after a great run and were unfortunate to lose to Stenhousemuir in extra-time. It’s about regrouping and getting in the right players to have a go again.
“Clyde have brought in some good players. Barry [Ferguson] has done some fantastic business getting five or six players in from the Championship. Stirling Albion have strengthened and so have Arbroath who finished above us last season.
“Queen’s Park will be good again and I know wee Colin Cameron will not want Berwick Rangers to miss out. We have Jim Weir at Elgin who were one of the form teams towards the end of last year and East Stirling, between the first and the last time we played them, were the most improved team.
“So it is a difficult league. We are working hard to get good loans in from our contacts in the Premiership and that would make a huge difference.”
It is easy to forget that Naysmith, an excellent left-back, was such a hit down south. He played the best part of 200 games for Everton and remains highly thought of at Goodison.
“The biggest achievement of my career, and I include playing for Scotland and winning the cup with Hearts, was playing seven-and-a-bit seasons at an English Premier League club,” he said. “Lots of lads have moved down and never really cut it.
“You would struggle to tell me in recent times 10 Scottish players who stayed at a Premier League club for five years.”
And now Naysmith is at the other end of football. It’s been an eye- opener for a man who always played at a high level.
“The game here now is completely different to when I was at Hearts,” he said. “You hear stories about some full-time clubs only being able to offer so little that a player will go part-time and get another job because they’ll earn more that way.
“I never saw that happening back in the day. I can understand why they do it. If you are someone with commitments then you look after yourself.
“Staying part-time can earn players a couple of hundred extra quid a week, add that up and you can see why so many are turning their backs to full-time football.”
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