Revitalised Alness United ready for North Caledonian League Division Two title bid
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AMID work pressures last year, Robert MacCormack felt obliged to knock back the Alness United manager’s job.
He then watched in dismay as his local team tumbled out of senior football.
Long weeks of lockdown, as it did for many, brought a reappraisal of priorities and the 30-year-old has since embraced the task of guiding Alness back into the North Caledonian League after a year’s absence.
Preparing for this Saturday’s first game back at Bonar Bridge, MacCormack hopes another pandemic by-product – a rekindling of appetite for the game among certain players – will stand Alness in good stead.
Among his new signings are a number who had previously drifted out of football.
“We had a break from the league last season after our previous manager, Craig Vass, stepped down and no-one else stepped forward,” MacCormack, who works in logistics for an offshore industry supplier, said.
“I was asked to do it, but felt with work and family commitments it was too much. With lockdown and no summer football, I decided to give it a bash this time. With everything that has happened, I think people have been reminded just how much they love football,” he said.
“It has brought a lot of boys back playing with us after a few years away, which is great – and they’re doing really well.”
Alness will be many people’s title favourites in the new second division, with the league split in half to reduce the fixtures list during Covid-19 restrictions.
“We’ve got a lot of boys who played for the club before, but we’ve also taken boys in from other teams, with a lot of young boys impressing too,” he said. “We’re looking good so far. Everyone is at the same ability, so I’m going to have a few sore heads picking teams.
“We’ve been training really and well and had four really good pre-season games.
“We’re looking forward to facing a Bonar Bridge side I think will have improved greatly under new manager Rob Mitchell.”
