Kenny Shiels has never been a conventional figure.
Growing up in Magherafelt, a small town in Londonderry, Shiels supported a local side, but also Aberdeen and Chelsea. Most children in Northern Ireland follow Scottish and English football, but they tend to support either half of the Old Firm. "I wasn't allowed to choose Rangers or Celtic because that was the way my father was," Shiels says.
Both he and his two brothers would keep up to date on events at Pittodrie, and in 1970 Shiels was able to boast in the playground that his two other teams were cup winners, since Aberdeen lifted the Scottish Cup and Chelsea were triumphant in the FA Cup.
The recollections bring a hazy smile to Shiels' face, as he begins to name check his favourite Aberdeen players. "Bobby Clark, the keeper, Joe Harper, I remember all those guys," he says. "The wide player, Arthur Graham. Martin Buchan played in that 1970 [cup final]. Davie Robb. Nobody supported either [Aberdeen or Chelsea] at my school. Then they both won the cup in 1970. I'd have been 14. I wasn't an avid supporter, they were just my Scottish team. I had the two cup winners that year and I just thought it was brilliant, unbelievable. At that time you'd watch Match of the Day and didn't really see Scottish football. But I'd read about them in the papers."
The reminiscing comes up because Kilmarnock host Aberdeen on Saturday, when a victory would lift the Rugby Park side to the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. Shiels believes Aberdeen can recover those past glories, but there is an element, too, of reducing the pressure on his own side.
Kilmarnock certainly have smaller resources, but Shiels is a shrewd manager and much of his work at Rugby Park has been worthwhile. His instinct is to bring some perspective to the rise of his team this season, rather than dwell on what might be achieved.
"We're positive, we're just wary of expectations," he says. "We know we're still small fry compared with Aberdeen. We're very self-motivated with how we approach this game because we know it's going to be difficult. Aberdeen are one of the biggest clubs. They've invested for a European spot, which is great. I don't look at league tables. That could bring its own problems. We're four points off third from bottom. If Aberdeen win then they're up above us."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article