Regan Charles-Cook thanks Ross County fans, staff and teammates for support in aftermath of alleged racist abuse directed towards Grenada international ahead of crunch trip to Dundee
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Premiership top scorer Regan Charles-Cook has paid tribute to the Ross County fans for their show of support for him.
After a less-than-stellar first season in Dingwall, the Grenada international has become a fan favourite in his second campaign with the Staggies by reaching double figures in front of goal.
Manager Malky Mackay and various County players have spoken about how much they enjoy the vocal support coming from the Jail End, but perhaps no player gets the adulation that Charles-Cook does, with a Grenada flag now commonplace behind the goal at that end of the park.
The 24-year-old has certainly taken notice of that, and says those fans spur him and his teammates on to repay them with performances and points on the pitch.
"I see the Grenada flag all the time," Charles-Cook said.
"Before the game I always give them a little wave to show my appreciation.
"I see the fans on social media as well, and they're so supportive, they have my back. It's so nice to see.
"I'm just very grateful for them. They come to every game to show their support, and we can hear it, especially the Jail End. We want to give back as much as we can to them."
The latest display of County fans' solidarity with Charles-Cook came midweek against Aberdeen, when they organised a minute's applause for the winger after reports he was racially abused online during the Staggies' draw with Rangers last weekend.
Again, that was a gesture that touched Charles-Cook, and he says the support he has received from everyone associated with the club over the last week has been extremely valuable.
"I was overwhelmed with the support from both sets of fans (on Tuesday)," he enthused.
"When you heard them clapping, it felt like everyone was together with so much support that I've had on the pitch and off the pitch. It was great to see both sets of fans getting involved in that moment.
"The club, the manager, the staff and all the boys have been really supportive straight away.
"As soon as it came out that it happened, everybody started ringing me and texting me, and I just can't thank the club enough for how supportive they have been.
"When you see things like that, it puts a downer on things, especially after such a good, entertaining game for everyone, but the club have been excellent with me in terms of support."
Charles-Cook is set to be part of a Staggies squad travelling to Dundee tomorrow afternoon off the back of home draws against Rangers and Aberdeen.
It could prove to be an important match in the Premiership's relegation battle, with the Dens Park outfit capable of going two points behind County with a game in hand should they win.
Naturally, Charles-Cook does not want to let that happen, as he believes the new-found resilience in the County squad means they should be looking up the table instead.
"These games in our eyes are six pointers," he stressed.
"It extends the gap between us and Dundee if we win on Saturday, but we want to look forward at the teams above us we want to catch.
"We don't want to look behind us any more, so Saturday is a really important game for us.
"The most important thing that I took from the last two games was that we came from behind in both games – you could see our resilience, when we do go a goal down we bounce back quite well.
"We're trying to nip conceding in the bud, and hopefully go a goal up and carry that on.
"At the start of the season as well, we've gone goals down and we never really found our way back into the game. We made chances, but you can see that the boys are becoming a lot more clinical nowadays, and it shows our resilience this year compared to last year.
"Last year if we went a goal down we probably didn't look much like getting into it, but I think everyone knows not to count out Ross County now. We're a team with a lot of threats.
"No heads drop, that's one of the gaffer's main phrases – no disappointment. It's taken a while to implement that into us, but that's what I feel from the boys. None of the boys have disappointments, even if we go a goal down, we all feel like we can bounce back straight away."
