WHEN Jim McIntyre and myself arrived, Ross County had played four games and had no points whatsoever.

The gamble was that we were leaving a stable club in Queen of the South, one that we had worked really hard to build up.

But we knew what we were coming to. We knew the only way was up. It was a good stable club which had really good facilities to work, one which had reached the Scottish Cup final as recently as 2010. Most of all, the thing Jim and I knew was how rare the chances are to manage in the top flight. Whether it is six months, 12 months or whatever - you might not get another chance.

Previously I had been getting the best of both worlds - some media and some coaching - but I wanted to test myself again in the top flight. I had been unlucky a few times, first with Dundee United, then in the championship with Dundee when they went into administration. Jim was the same. He didn't deserve the sack at Dunfermline, even Jim Jefferies, his successor, admitted that. The two of us were twitching to get back in.

And when we went there at first it was a bit of everything really. We were playing a 4-2-3-1 system, but we were either scoring goals and losing them, or losing goals and not scoring them. Like everybody does, we tried to look for the right formula and balance. Aberdeen thumped us 4-0 at Pittodrie and we could have gone into that dressing room and gone to town on the boys.

But we knew our goalkeeper had made a couple of mistakes and we ended up with ten men because one of our players got injured. Everything that transpired that night went against us and we told them that. We knew we had a six-game stretch coming up against teams who were round about us. This was our season starting now.

We knew results could pick up. What we didn't think was that we could beat practically everyone who has been put in our way. Yet even despite this great run of results, we still just can't get the job done - because, at least prior to their defeat to Partick Thistle yesterday, Motherwell keep winning too. While the excitement is great for everybody else, it is not great for us. We would love it over with five games to go but it is going to go to the wire and we are left with that situation. Staying up is still a long way away, but a two-horse race has become a three- or four-horse race. This is our second time at attempting to avoid the curse of the manager of the month award. It was mentioned the last time and it will be mentioned again going into the St Mirren match tomorrow night.

Jim and I didn't want to go down the route of making wholesale changes in January. It was a lot of hard work. But this wasn't a solid squad which needed tweaking in two or three positions, it was a squad which maybe needed strengthening in around eight positions. We have never worked as hard as we did during that January transfer window.

Every single player in a 4-4-2 has absolutely grasped it. We haven't had a single person in the squad coming to us saying they should be in the team. Craig Curran has brought an unbelieveable work ethic, Raffaele De Vita - the player of the month for March - has brought important goals plus a bit of composure and quality, Michael Gardyne has been so consistent it is unbelievable and Jackson Irvine has been running over people in midfield. Marcus Fraser and Jamie Reckord have come in and hit the ground running. Scott Boyd has kicked on again. We brought on some centre halves and he has said 'they are not getting my position' so full credit to him.

Long term, this isn't the way we want to go. We want some stability and continuity at the club. It is not healthy for the club, it is not healthy for people working at the club. We want to get a squad of players tied up on two-year contracts and that is why we have already signed up Tony Dingwall and Marcus Fraser. But it is all still dependent on us staying up.

Nothing is certain yet, but I am genuinely gutted to see St Mirren where they are. I play golf with Stewart Gilmour, and while things have not been going well this year, look at the decisions they have made in the past. Okay they got rid of Danny Lennon but they also brought Danny Lennon in, who kept them in the top league for years, and won a cup, and no-one was criticising them then. They are one of my favourite clubs in the SPFL by far.

Nothing is done yet but I need to finish with a word for our chairman, Roy MacGregor. People will think this is crawling but genuinely the man has been unbelievable. He just let's us get on with it. Even when Jim and I were pulling our hair out he backed us all the way. He never once panicked. We were always confident in the job we were doing but he made us even more positive. You get businessmen and chairmen who are ruthless, and I am not saying Roy isn't like that, but there is a refreshing honesty about him that makes you think you want to do the job for this guy.