Malky Mackay heaps praise on 'knowledgeable' Ross County supporters ahead of crunch visit to Dundee United in Scottish Premiership relegation battle
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Malky Mackay has praised Ross County's supporters for their knowledge and dedication – promising the team will do everything they can to repay that show of faith.
The Staggies faithful were in full voice last weekend as they watched a 2-0 win over Livingston in Dingwall, a vital result to move the club closer to their relegation rivals at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership.
Unfortunately for County, too often their fans have not had much to shout about this season, with disappointing results leaving them at the foot of the top flight.
Mackay, though, appreciates the efforts that supporters to go to back the side, especially when that familiarity with individual players helps that passion hit new heights.
“I can only say that from the day I have arrived here, our fans have been very welcoming to me," Mackay explained.
“They didn’t need to be, but hopefully from quite early on they saw a work ethic about the Ross County jersey. I wanted the team to sweat for them.
“I’m due every bit of criticism they want to give. It’s their club, and they are custodians of it – over the piece they have been very fair and I genuinely love when we play here.
“Livingston didn’t bring many fans last Saturday, but in the second half after the goals had gone in it was a terrific atmosphere.
“I think they start to get excited about certain things. They probably follow it and see that Alex (Samuel) hasn’t played in a long time, some of them see it like that could be their son there and it puts a smile on people’s faces.
“When they see one of their own, with kids coming through the academy like Dylan (Smith) who has been playing, it gives them a certain heartwarming feeling.
“Victor (Loturi) has come over from the other side of the world, and Yan (Dhanda) is up from England with a young family living in the Highlands – our fans are knowledgeable about every individual player’s circumstances, and they see these guys up here having a real go for us, and they take to that.
“It makes me even more delighted when we do manage to go away from home and get results.
“We went to Easter Road, with our band of fans in the corner after getting the win. A couple of weeks ago at St Johnstone they were going off their nut – I don’t know what they had taken that day – so I've got respect for the knowledge of our fans."
It is worth remembering that it was not that long ago that fans were unable to attend matches because of Covid-19 restrictions.
Mackay came in as manager in Dingwall just as they were starting to ease, but he did have a taste of what lockdown football was like – and that has only made him appreciate backing from the stands all the more.
“I came in at the tail end of Covid, and then at Christmas time we went to no fans again down at Tynecastle and the stadium was deathly quiet – it was dreadful," he recalled.
“Football clubs all over the country have probably lost fans through a number of factors.
“I think when we start to see good games, people are starting to see the attraction in coming back to it again. It has happened slowly, and people’s confidence to get back out there in life is happening again slowly.
“You only have to look at the last few nights, with the play-off games in the Championship, and how exciting they were. You see how exciting this end of the season is in the Premiership as well, and people are starting to come back to football again.
“We have struggled with people having the confidence to come back as well.
“I have touched on it before, about how people behave at football grounds. That’s something else that is hopefully gradually changing.
“I think that was maybe one of the adverse effects of people coming back from Covid, as I don’t think any of us enjoyed certain things that were happening at football over the last 18 months. Maybe that’s starting to change again, for the positive I hope.”
