NOTHING lasts forever in football but emotions were running high at Queen of the South's central belt training base at Broadwood Stadium yesterday when Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds informed their players that they were leaving the club for a new start in the Highlands.
The pair will be unveiled as Ross County's new management team in Dingwall this morning, and their departure was greeted with shock by one of Scottish football's more tightly-knit playing squads. Not least by Mark Kerr, a former team-mate of both men from his early days at Dundee United, who has been signed by McIntyre for both Dunfermline and Queen of the South.
"It is definitely a huge loss - I think the reaction from everybody, including the gaffer and Doddsy when they came in today, just showed how much of a shock it was," Kerr told Herald Sport.
"I wouldn't say tears but you could tell from boys' body language and stuff that they were a wee bit down. The boys did respect the gaffer and Doddsy and really did enjoy coming to train and play every day. They were all looking forward to a good season together with them. It is a really sad day but I am sure the board will get someone else in place."
Roy MacGregor, the Ross County chairman, is on record about attempting to reconnect his club with the local community, a link which has become strained by the club's apparent policy of enlisting job lots of foreign players, so it is little wonder that McIntyre's work at Queen of the South has caught the eye.
A combination of shrewd recruitment, hard work on the coaching field, and a close bond between the players and staff proved sufficient to take Queens to the play-offs last year - where they lost narrowly to Falkirk - with portents looking equally bright this season.
They currently sit fourth, and travelling to Ibrox a week ago on Saturday with their entire first-choice midfield unavailable, they twice led Rangers before succumbing to a 4-2 defeat.
McIntyre was a talented player - he earned a Scotland B cap and won the Scottish Cup with Kilmarnock in 1997 - but in time his footprint as a manager may be greater.
In retrospect, his sacking from Dunfermline seems like a travesty which requires reassessment. Having taken over from Stephen Kenny with a bloated 37-man squad and the club second bottom of the first division, his four years in charge were played out to a backdrop of continued cost-cutting. After finishes of 5th, 3rd then 3rd again, the title was duly won, only for him to be rewarded with the sack in March 2012 with the East End Park club four points in arrears as they vainly fought against relegation back to the first division again.
A short-term spell as assistant manager to his old Dundee United team-mate Derek McInnes at Bristol City was perceived as another blot on the cv, but when it comes to intangibles such as team building, man management and organisation, in truth McIntyre is highly regarded within the game. While he can be blunt, Kerr reckons he has the perfect blend of modern-day management and a bit of old school truth telling when required.
"The manager would probably say he made mistakes at Dunfermline and did a lot of good things as well," said Kerr. "But when he got sacked it wasn't like there was a different reaction, and the team kicked on.
"The gap only got bigger in the last six games so I don't think it really needed to happen. He was still keeping the place positive. No-one had chucked in the towel.
"He is straight to the point," added the experienced midfielder, fit again after injury. "He knows what he wants and is really well organised, from the way the team is set out to fine details like set pieces.
"He makes demands of people and sometimes people might say he is harsh, but he is not: he just gets his point across. He is a great speaker who is comfortable about players, and in my opinion that is a big thing with managers. If they can't communicate as well, sometimes you don't get the same honesty."
There has been a real maturity about the squad building at Queens - the canny development of young talents like Paul Durnan, Ian McShane and Lewis Kidd, and the addition of a few older heads.
"There really aren't that many negatives with the gaffer and Doddsy and I am sure that every single one of the boys at the club would be of the same opinion," he said. "Ross County has always been a really good wee club since I have been in the league, a very hard place to play and get results, and I am sure the gaffer will bring that back. I am more than confident they will get results."
As for Queens themselves, player-coach James Fowler seems likely to take charge in the interim, but the building blocks for further success appear to be in place.
"Whoever comes in will get to work with a good group with no egos, no attitude, a lot of players want to go on and do well in the game," said Kerr.
"Hopefully we can get someone in place who can continue things the way they were going."
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