Ross County captain Iain Vigurs – If players need extra desire, they're not doing their job properly
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Iain Vigurs hopes that he does not have any extra desire to keep Ross County in the Premiership as captain – as that would have meant he was not doing his job properly beforehand.
The 32-year-old midfielder was handed the captain’s armband last summer by former manager Stuart Kettlewell, and is leading the Staggies’ battle against the drop on the pitch.
He says that he does not feel an extra motivation as skipper though, as every player should be doing all they can to pick up points anyway.
“If it did give me extra, I don’t think I’d have been doing my job right before I was captain,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter whether you have the armband or not. You need to play one way and one way only, and that’s to win.
“It has felt like a stop-start season – but we need to really start picking up points now.
“If players don’t thrive on pressure they’re in the wrong job. The boys should be buzzing off that.”
Vigurs is no stranger to a battle against the drop, having been relegated from the Premiership twice with County’s Highland neighbours Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Comparing the atmosphere in the dressing room between those battles and now in Dingwall though, he believes they are night and day.
“I had two relegations with Inverness,” Vigurs said.
“The last one was their latest relegation and it was a tough season.
“No one wants to get relegated, it was hard, and they are still trying to bounce back now, so there is no guarantee you will come straight back up.
“That’s what we are in now, but it is night and day here compared to that season with Caley.
“I believe that we will get out of this.
“At Inverness, no one was too sure, but here if you ask anyone in the squad, they will say that we are more than capable, and we are going to get out of the dogfight.”
Manager John Hughes’ motivational skills could be County’s secret weapon against the drop.
“He can pick up anyone – there’s never a case of him struggling to lift people,” Vigurs added.
“The boys are always ready to go. It was a poor result and did hurt a lot of the boys, but we can still pick ourselves up, and he can still pick us up. After results like Livingston and Motherwell.
“The minute he comes into a training session or into the room after a defeat like Wednesday, he can just pick everyone up by saying something stupid.
“He’s an infectious personality around training. It is just the way he is.”
