Don Cowie remains proud to have been Ross County manager – and Staggies exit has not dampened 10-cap Scotland international’s passion for the game
Don Cowie insists he loved every second of being Ross County manager – despite seeing his tenure come to an abrupt end earlier this season.
The 42-year-old oversaw the Staggies for 18-months between February 2024 and August this year, winning 21 and drawing 17 of his 69 matches in charge.
His association with the football club, though, goes back much further than that. As a boy, Don would sit on the sidelines at training as his dad, Don Sr, assisted Bobby Wilson in the Highland League and early SPFL days.
He would then progress through the academy in Dingwall, breaking into the first team and becoming Ross County captain. He performed well enough to earn moves first to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and then south of the border to Watford, Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic, also winning 10 caps for his country.
Eventually Cowie would return to Scotland, with three years at Hearts preceding a homecoming to County, where he would become a coach and assistant manager after hanging up his boots in 2020.
It would be easy to think it was always written in the stars for Cowie to become Staggies manager at some point, then, and despite the way things ended for him at the Global Energy Stadium he still harbours that hunger to be involved in the game in some capacity.
He explained: “I loved my time as Ross County manager. I worked hard to get to that position, and I was really proud to be given that opportunity.
“I still have a fantastic relationship with the chairman, Mr MacGregor, and Steven Ferguson the chief executive, so I’m very grateful for the opportunity I was given but I believe I earned that opportunity.
“Being a manager is a completely different job. Until you’re in the hot seat and dealing with that responsibility, you will never know.
“I’ve been in full time football for over 25 years, and I didn’t know what it was like until I was actually in that position. Everyone thinks it’s all about what happens on a Saturday, but there are different things you’re dealing with during the week that you’re just not exposed to as a coach or assistant manager. It’s an eye-opener, but it was one I relished and embraced.
“There was some really positive moments in my time. I can look back and be very proud of those, but obviously the last couple of months of last season was very difficult and challenging.
“Obviously I wanted to carry on and be the manager at Ross County, but I think we all know the way football works.
“It was just a case of having a discussion, and we felt it was best that somebody else came in. That’s football, it’s life, and you just have to accept it and learn from it, and be better next time.
“It certainly hasn’t put me off, that’s for sure. All I know is football. I left school at 16, and it has been a massive part of my life.
“I feel like I’ve got a lot to give to football, and I would never be blasé enough to say that it has to be as a manager. I really enjoyed being a manager, but I also really enjoyed being an assistant manager, and I think I was good at it.
“You never know what can happen in football, and I’m open to any role in football. I still see myself as someone who can be a very good manager – and I think I showed that at times – so ultimately I would like to be a manager, but you never know what opportunities will arise. You just need to be ready for whatever comes your way.”
Such was his association with the Staggies, it could have been easy for the pressure on Cowie’s shoulders to become overwhelming when things started to go wrong.
Certainly, boos from supporters could sting that little bit more when, in another life, Cowie could have been standing next to those very supporters on the sidelines.
A trademark of his time in charge at the club was his composure, with a recurring mantra of never getting too high or too low no matter the circumstances, so Cowie feels as though he was able to detach from the uniqueness of that situation - and is adamant that criticism he received towards the end of his stint will not put him off from going back and supporting the club as a fan.
“I’m someone who can detach from the fans’ reaction,” he reasoned.
“I’m very focused. The uniqueness of me being Ross County manager is that it’s where I’m from, and it’s a club I’ve spent 15 years at, but I don’t think that added any pressure on me – any fan wants the manager to bring success to the club.
“It means a lot to me as a football club, and you want to do your very best for it. I believe I’ve done that, throughout any role I had at the club.
“You obviously want to bring success to the club, so you’re aware of the reaction. I’m not naïve, I know football is about results, and I had a great support network around me with my family, the chairman and chief executive. I’m very grateful for the support I was given from them.
“In the hard times you probably realise who your real supporters are, and who’s got your back, and that’s something I’ve learned as a manager who is from the area and lives here. It’s hard to get away from being the manager of the football club of the town that you’re from.
“I’m sure there will come a point when I will be back in Dingwall to watch a game of football. There’s no doubt that will happen.
“At the beginning, it’s still a bit raw, and you feel a bit disappointed, but at the same time it’s a club that gave me a platform within football. I’ve given a lot to the club as well, so there is a lot of respect there both ways.
“I believe that I always tried to do whatever role I had at the club to the best of my ability and conduct myself in a right and proper manner.”
Cowie admits it has been strange not having a Saturday afternoon match to focus on for the first time in a quarter of a century, but he is enjoying spending more time with family – and improving his game on the golf course.
Naturally, he has also been reflecting on what went wrong over his last few months at Ross County, and he has a similar view to former assistant Carl Tremarco that Noah Chilvers’ injury proved costly last season, with the coaching staff then unable to prevent momentum slipping away despite having “plenty of opportunities” to snap their bad run of form.
He can also look back at some major highlights though. Under Cowie’s stewardship, County recorded their first ever win against Rangers in any competition – backed up by successive home wins over Hibernian and Hearts – and recorded three away wins in-a-row in the Premiership for the first time.
Appropriately, given his own path into professional football, Cowie also takes pride in giving senior debuts to several of the club’s academy graduates as much as any match outcome.
Having been publicly backed in the summer by club chairman Roy MacGregor and chief executive Steven Ferguson, and those words being backed up in the transfer market, there could be an element of “what if” about this season.
Despite only having three league games in charge, though, Cowie remains adamant that there is more than enough quality in Dingwall for the club to be challenging at the right end of the Championship table this season.
“I still believe there is a very good group of players there who can perform at a high level in the Championship, and you have to have that inner belief that you can get the group to that stage,” he added.
“It’s hard to judge on three games in the league season that it’s not going to work, but after the last two months of last season it came to a head a wee bit, and that’s why those discussions came so early on.
“I’ve seen where the club came from and where it is now. Ultimately the club would like to be back in the Premiership, and that will be the goal.
“Between the recruitment when I was at the club, and the players Tony Docherty has brought in since then, it was great to see them get a victory last Saturday. That will relieve a bit of pressure on the players, and it might free them up a bit more.
“With someone like Tony coming into the club, who I’ve got a lot of respect for, I think he is a really good appointment.
“With Callum Davidson coming in too, you never know. The players can take real belief and confidence from a great victory last Saturday and go on a run, because the quality is there to do that, that’s for sure.”