Latest news with #PaulLambert
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A change in tenor: Springfield Symphony, union announce labor contract
SPRINGFIELD — Finally on the same page of music after years of labor strife, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and Local 171 of the American Federation of Musicians have reached a new two-year collective bargaining agreement. The new contract starts in the upcoming 2025-26 season and extends through the 2026-27 season, the union and the orchestra said in a joint statement Monday. The deal calls for a minimum of eight symphonic concerts and an education concert in the upcoming seasons. The Springfield Symphony Orchestra is the largest Massachusetts symphony outside of Boston. The new contract for the 67-member orchestra does include pay increases over each of the two years. The union and management declined to specify the increase. The announcement this year had a different tone from the last contract negotiations. The orchestra and its union reached a two-year deal in 2023 only after three years of negotiations, complaints to the National Labor Relations Board and the intervention of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno. The musicians also formed an independent orchestra, called the Musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, at one point. Paul Lambert came in as president and CEO of the orchestra in February of 2023, toward the end of protracted negotiations. He noted the change in tenor. 'We work together very closely,' Lambert said. 'We've worked hard to build trust. We've worked very hard to try and include everybody' Beth Welty, president of Local 171, said the agreement is a positive step. 'We look forward to continuing to work with Paul Lambert, the staff and the board toward the goal of expanding the orchestra's outreach and service to all of Western Massachusetts.' Lambert, in an interview, said that while the contract has called for a minimum of eight performances for a few years now, the orchestra typically does 10 to 12, depending on funding. 'We try all the time to find ways to bring in new audiences,' said Lambert, who formerly was an executive at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 'New, younger, diverse audiences.' Over the past two years, that's meant featuring the Latin jazz ensemble the Mambo Kings; 'Bugs Bunny at the Symphony'; annual MLK Jr. celebration concerts; and the Fearless Women Awards, honoring local women leaders in the community. 'Just be flexible,' Lambert said of the house ethos. The orchestra hosted its third Juneteenth concerts — concerts that are free to attend for the community. The orchestra played its second youth education concert of the last few years. And it hosted 2,000 fourth graders in March at Symphony Hall. 'Great fun for all concerned,' Lambert said. Two quintets — winds and brass — from the Springfield Symphony Orchestra will perform at the Forest Park Amphitheater in Springfield on Sept. 18 as part of the city's free concert and movie series. Lambert said he's grateful to the city and the Parks Department for reaching out. The concerts will be similar to ones the orchestra performed two years ago that The Big E. Musicians in the Springfield Symphony orchestra are part-time with the orchestra and paid according to the number of their performances. 'What do businesses hate?': Mass. employers navigating uncertainty and fear MGM Springfield reports gambling take for May Cannabis workers at Holistic Industries in Monson ask for vote that could end union Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Motherwell appoint new boss after 'rigorous process' to name Michael Wimmer's successor
Motherwell have appointed former Copenhagen assistant manager Jens Berthel Askou as their new boss. The 42-year-old Dane will formally begin his role at the club next week, subject to the approval of a work permit, as he replaces Michael Wimmer. Advertisement A former Norwich City defender, Askou played under former Motherwell hero Paul Lambert, and is an ex-team mate of new Rangers boss Russell Martin. Askou started coaching in Denmark in 2015, and was with several clubs in his homeland before moving to HB Torshavn in the Faroe Islands in 2019, where he won the league and League Cup, earning him manager of the season. Spells at AC Horsens in Denmark in 2021, and at IFK Gotenborg in 2023 followed, and he helped lead Sparta Praha to the Champions League as assistant boss. In January 2025 he joined FC Kobenhavn as assistant manager, winning the league and cup, and reaching the Europa Conference League knockout stages. Advertisement He told the club's website: 'This is a really proud moment for me. It's a huge honour to be selected to become the manager of Motherwell Football Club. Jens Berthel Askou played under former Motherwell hero Paul Lambert at Norwich City -Credit:- 'Having spoken extensively with members of the club board, it was clear from the outset that our ideas, ambitions and morals align. READ MORE: Sunderland 'preparing' £10m Lennon Miller bid as Black Cats 'quietly confident' of landing Motherwell ace READ MORE: Shotts boss says 'having a go' worked well as they avoided Premier League drop 'We are all ambitious people, and we're all hungry for success. I can't wait to arrive in Scotland and begin planning for the season ahead. There is a lot of work to be done, but it's highly exciting.' Advertisement Chairman Kyrk Macmillan said: 'This has been a more rigorous process to recruit our new manager due to the incredible number of applications for the role. 'We had a high number of impressive applicants, but we were really drawn to Jens. 'His track record of working with big clubs, delivering success and developing young players matches up with all our philosophies here at Motherwell Football Club. Askou replaces Michael Wimmer, who left to return to Germany for personal reasons -Credit:SNS Group 'He has handed 26 teenagers debuts in five-and-a-half seasons, which I think is evidence of Jens implementing his ideas and morals. 'The data and numbers impressed us, but more importantly, after speaking with Jens a number of times, he is a really ambitious character and a leader who was extremely keen to get the role here at our club. 'We expect the UK work permit to be received in the coming days, and then he can commence his work on Day 1 of pre-season.'
Daily Mail
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
How a goal against Airdrie and a few famous Steelmen helped shape the career of new Motherwell boss Askou
Jens Berthel Askou is a shining example of what can happen in life when one is prepared to broaden one's horizons. Sixteen years ago, the Dane first alighted in Scotland after an indifferent spell in Turkey with Kasimpasa SK. Having joined Norwich City 's training camp on trial, he was thrown into a bounce match against Airdrie. Without a stroke of good fortune going his way, he believes his career might have gone down an entirely different path. 'I scored against Airdrie, so I've got a head start there,' smiled the new Motherwell manager. 'I have to admit, I don't even remember much about the goal. Luckily, someone hit me straight in my face and it went in. Then I succeeded in convincing them that I was worth keeping. 'I spent two years at Norwich. I met some very nice people there. I was lucky enough to have two Scottish managers. 'I had some Scottish team-mates who also had a history here at this club, Stephen Hughes and Simon Lappin. And then we had some friends outside football who were also Scottish. Nice people. 'So, my initial impression of Scotland has been very, very good.' Bryan Gunn, who'd been in charge as the Canaries were relegated to League One, was only ever holding the fort that summer. It was to be another Scot with a famous Fir Park connection in Paul Lambert who'd take charge and lead the side on a magic carpet ride back to the Premier League with successive promotions. The impression the Champions League winner made on Askou was to prove life-affirming. 'In terms of directness and clarity and how demanding he was, he was a big influence on my managerial career,' said the 42-year-old. 'There was an aura about him that inspired and pushed people to the maximum. He was demanding, but it was a very good environment. I have great respect for what he did.' That period in Norwich's history underscores what a huge thing momentum can be. Having romped to the League One title, Norwich kept winning in the Championship and clinched second spot. 'I think we got it right in so many ways,' added Askou. 'Our approach was really sharp at that time. We found some really good players with a lot of leadership and huge drive in their personalities. It was a very self-driven group.' Russell Martin was another figure from that time who made a profound impression on the Dane. He arrived on loan from Peterborough in the November of that first season and enhanced the dressing room culture. 'He was a fantastic person off the pitch,' Askou recalled of the now Rangers boss. 'Very, very professional. Very dedicated. A genuinely good guy. He approached everyone with the same attitude. Very friendly. 'He started his manager career in Milton Keynes and he's just done really, really well since then.' They will meet soon enough when hostilities in the Scottish Premiership resume. Askou believes there will be subtle differences in how their respective sides go about the business. 'He's got a modern approach to football and so do I,' he said. 'He's very uncompromising in his passing (style). 'I've probably in my career been a little bit more pragmatic at times. But I would say that maybe I've become more uncompromising in terms of if you really want to become really good at something then you have to be brave enough to do it when it hurts the most sometimes.' This philosophy has not been arrived at without careful consideration. After leaving East Anglia, Askou ran down his playing career at a string of lesser-known clubs in Denmark before taking his first managerial job at tiny Vendsyssel FF. 'I took over just before the end of the season in the second league,' he recalled. 'We were hanging in there and almost lost the chance of promotion. Then we did it through the play-offs. 'It was a very special year. It was a very small club. We had to do everything on our own. We were pumping up the balls, cutting the grass and watering the pitch. It was a great experience. I even hired my own sporting director after the original one resigned when I was a head coach.' With success, the offers came. HB Torshavn in the Faroe Islands may not be one of the game's hotbeds, but it felt like the right place at the right time. 'It was an opportunity for me to do something different, to go my own way,' recalled Askou. He landed the league and cup Double there, earned experience of European football and eventually was offered the chance to return to Denmark as manager of AC Horsens. After two years in which he also took them to the top division, fallen Swedish giants Gothenburg came calling. 'We were trying to rebuild the club from risking relegation, which would have been a disaster for a club of that size,' he explained. 'We made it in the last game of the league that season. We stayed up by scoring to make it 2-1 in the 96th minute to get us out of relegation. And then we started rebuilding with an even more brave style of play for six months.' He maintains he would gladly have remained had Sparta Prague not wanted to make him their assistant. His stay in the Czech capital only lasted six months — the time it took FC Copenhagen to offer him the same position. His burgeoning reputation was enhanced by helping them to the Double and the knockout stages of the Conference League. Self-assured and intelligent, you can see why Motherwell offered him a return to a managerial role. But with so many recent entries on his CV, you can also understand why some fans might question if he's going to stick around for long following the short-lived Michael Wimmer episode. 'I have no plans of going anywhere but here for as long as the club wants me,' he stressed. He's realistic about the prospect of retaining Lennon Miller beyond the transfer window. 'I think it would be naive to say we're not planning without him,' he said. 'But right now, he's here.' This speaks to an understanding of what he's signed up for. The promotion of youth, the main tenet of Motherwell's model, runs in his blood. 'I've given 25 or 26 under-19 players their first game in my five- and-a-half years as a head coach,' he said. 'I know what it's like and I love seeing young people develop and thrive. 'Some of them might start in the school around the corner. Then they might end up somewhere in a big European club when they're 20 years old. How fantastic it is to see people fulfil their dreams. 'I'm very excited to be here, because I feel I've found a place where I will thrive.'
The National
15-06-2025
- Sport
- The National
Scott Kellacher on his Celtic days and ICT's future
Kellacher returned to his home town of Inverness after being released and went on to turn out for Highland League sides Nairn County and Clachnacuddin as well as, very briefly, Elgin City instead. Yet, he still loved every minute of the time that he spent as an apprentice in the East End of Glasgow during the late 1990s and definitely made, quite literally it turns out, an impression in his spell there. 'All of the first team players were brilliant with the young lads back then, just brilliant,' said the Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager during a coffee and a chat in a function suite at the Caledonian Stadium earlier this week. 'Paul Lambert, Mark Viduka, Henrik Larsson, they were all great. I stayed in Paisley when I was down there and Paul lived nearby in Johnstone. I used to travel with him quite a bit and speak to him about football a lot. I was always asking him questions. 'But they were all good guys. The young lads used to sort the first team kit and we would speak away to the players when we did. I've always been like that anyway, have always been the sort of guy who will talk to anyone. So I would always be blathering away. 'Henrik was phenomenal. I got on really well with him. I was pure Inverness at that time and he would try to impersonate my Highland accent in his Swedish accent. Do you know what? He was absolutely horrendous at it.' Read more: Kellacher has shown he is far more than a pale imitation of the great managers who have preceded him at Caledonian Thistle – and Steve Paterson, John Robertson, Craig Brewster, Terry Butcher, John Hughes and Billy Dodds all enjoyed noteworthy successes during their respective tenures - since replacing Duncan Ferguson in October last year. He took over in the most difficult circumstances imaginable after the stricken League One outfit went into administration. Ferguson, who had been working for free as the financial crisis engulfing the club had worsened, was sacked. The SPFL then docked them 15 points and they dropped to the foot of the third tier table. But the man who had performed a variety of different roles during the preceding 20 years – he had been a youth coach, a kit man, a reserve coach, a first team coach and an assistant manager – rose to the considerable challenge and then some. He ensured they avoided relegation with a game to spare. It is easy to understand why catastrophe was averted after spending a little time in the company of the 44-year-old. He has an engaging, infectious personality, laughs and jokes a lot, radiates enthusiasm and positivity. But he acknowledges there have been tough moments. 'Over the years, I have been asked by a lot of people if I was going to go for the job when a manager has moved on or been let go,' said Kellacher. 'When I used to talk about it with my wife Audrey I would say, 'I'll know myself when the time is right'. Bizarrely, the time came when the club was in the worst position it could be in. (Image: Calum Chittleburgh - SNS Group) 'When I was asked to do it, I thought, 'Do you know what? If I step up I can try to really pick everybody up'. I like to feel that's the sort of person I am. I like to be upbeat, I like to drive things on. I thought, 'I'll step up and give it everything I've got'. 'I've loved it. Don't get me wrong, there's been a lot of sleepless nights. People don't see that side of it, don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I don't think I realised myself. I take my hat off to managers now. It's so different being the manager. But I've loved it.' Kellacher continued. 'It's been a real rollercoaster. I've used the word a lot in recent months. But there's been a lot of ups and downs. I knew there would be with the young squad we had. 'I probably felt every emotion going, relief, joy, pride, when we beat Arbroath and stayed up. There were so many things going through my head. If we had beaten Kelty a couple of weeks earlier that would have taken us away from Annan, would have given us a bit of breathing space. But we lost at home. So the pressure was mounting. 'There's so much that goes through your mind at that point. Am I doing this right? Can the young players handle the pressure? Because it is a lot of pressure. You're playing for people's livelihoods. You're trying to make sure the club survives. Read more: 'But we produced one of our best performances of the season against Arbroath. With Annan losing at Dumbarton, it was a perfect day. It was just euphoria. That's probably the best word to describe it. 'Saturday nights change when you're a manager. Saturday nights are not what they used to be. Whether you win, lose or draw, you are thinking about the next game. That night I just wanted to go home and sit. So that is what I did. I sat on the couch with the wife and kids. With a big smile on my face. 'I was really, really proud of what we achieved. I was involved when Caley Thistle won the Scottish Cup in 2015. I was first team coach along with Russell Latapy. It was an incredible achievement, was comfortably the biggest thing this club has ever done. 'But what we did last season, probably because I was in charge, meant that bit more to me. I knew what was at stake, I knew the importance of staying in the league. Who knows what would have happened if we had gone down again.' Kellacher has worked alongside a fair few Caledonian Thistle managers during his coaching career and has learned a little from each of them. But he emphasises that Hughes, the man who oversaw that aforementioned cup triumph, has been the biggest influence on his career by far. (Image: SNS Group Kenny Smith) 'In terms of team talks, Terry was unbelievable,' he said. 'When it came to getting a team pumped up for a game, he could be incredible. I was a coach at that time, but at the end of his team talks I would be saying, 'Let me out that door! I want to go out there! I want to play!' He had players in the palm of his hand. He knew how to motivate them, knew how to get the best out of them. 'But when John came in I really got an apprenticeship. I thought I knew the game as a coach, but he opened my mind up to a whole different way of playing football. He made me a massive part of things. He took me in with the first team, showed me how he wanted his team to play, how he wanted to create overloads on the pitch, how he wanted to get extra bodies into areas so that situations were always in our favour. 'His attention to detail was frightening. We were in here from seven o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock at night. The work we did was ridiculous. The one thing he always drove home to me was to leave no stone unturned, to make sure you had covered everything.' Kellacher added, 'The best example I could give of that actually came in the Scottish Cup final. The referee was Willie Collum and John saw that he had sent off players in his previous two games. So we shaped our team with 10 men in the week leading up to the game. 'We were prepared for, God forbid, one of our players getting shown a red card. And what happened in the final? Carl Tremarco got sent off and we went down to 10 men. We were ready for it. It is quite incredible really. 'I'm really, really close with John and still speak to him regularly. We just hit it off. I think we got on so well because we're very similar. We both love football, enjoy our jobs and want to do well. But we don't take ourselves too seriously either. You want that togetherness, that feelgood factor.' Read more: Kellacher witnessed first hand how Tommy Burns was able to foster exactly the same sort of unity at Celtic when he was on the books at the Glasgow giants as a kid. He had enormous admiration and affection for the late Parkhead legend as well. 'I had a few options when I was a boy,' he said. 'Arsenal and a few other clubs were in for me. I was quite keen to go down the road. But my dad originally comes from Castlemilk and he and all of his family are big Celtic fans. The moment they came in for me my old man said, 'There you go. Job done'. 'But it was a wonderful time. I learned a lot from Tommy. He was a great, great man. He treated everybody exactly the same, had a wonderful way about him. It didn't matter if you were a first team player or a youth player. He just had this aura about him. 'There was always a great craic, really good banter, when Tommy and his assistant Billy [Stark] were around. I watched the Tommy Burns documentary on television the other night and found it quite emotional.' Learning that the Caledonian Thistle creditors had accepted a company voluntary arrangement and that Alan Savage, the founder of oil and gas recruitment firm The Orion Group, was finally free to complete an £800,000 takeover also brought a tear to his eye and a lump to his throat last week. Kellacher is effusive in his praise of Savage – entirely understandably as the successful local businessman has single-handedly staved off the very real threat of liquidation - and is optimistic that far better times lie ahead both on and off the park following months of turmoil and uncertainty with him at the helm. (Image: Mark Scates - SNS Group) 'What Alan has done for the football club has just been incredible,' he said. 'Honestly, it has been so good of him to come in and step up. For the club, for the staff, for the fans and for the city, it's just been great. 'I'm not going to lie, the way it was going wasn't nice. But I'm not one for talking and thinking about the past, I'm one for looking at what's happening now. What happened will be part of the club's history now. But it wasn't a nice part of the club's history. 'Alan has made it clear that Inverness has been so good for him and he wants to give something back. But it's a good bit back, let me tell you, a good bit. It's actually incredible what he's done. We can't be thankful enough for it.' Kellacher has been pleased at the freedom and encouragement the new Savage regime has given to him and his coaching staff. But he is well aware they will need to deliver in the 2025/26 season and beyond. 'Alan has given my coaching staff and I his complete backing,' he said. 'He's said, 'Just keep doing what you've been doing. I'll be here to support you'. He's been brilliant with us. When he comes in he will always dip his head in the door and say, 'How's it going? Everything alright?'. 'But Alan definitely wants to make sure that he gets it right. He'll keep us all on our toes. He'll demand a standard about the place. He'll demand results on the pitch. That all comes with the job. We know we will have to step up. At the end of the day, he's a winner.' Read more: There appear to be no lingering after-effects of the existential crisis which Caledonian Thistle have just emerged from when you chat to Kellacher. Nor is there any evidence of the near-death experience which he personally went through four years ago. When he is asked about contracting both viral encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain which can be fatal in the worst cases, and Covid-19 at the same time, though, it is obvious the ordeal took a psychological as well as a physical toll on him. 'There was no warning at all,' he said. 'I was just in my bed and it happened. But I've got to go on what the wife tells me here because I can't remember. She got really frightened. She was told, 'Listen, you need to prepare yourself for the worst here'. 'I was in hospital for over two weeks. I was on oxygen for most of that time. And I was oblivious to all of it. My kids saw a lot of things they shouldn't have at that age even though my wife tried to protect them and look after them. 'It isn't nice having to go through the lumbar punctures and the brain scans. Lumbar punctures aren't very comfortable things and they are very dangerous. They have to drain fluid out of your spine to see if everything is alright. 'When I came out of the hospital, I said to Audrey, 'Right, I'll give myself a couple of weeks and I'll be back to work'. It probably took six or seven months. But I would go out for a walk for five minutes and I would be floored for a week. 'The pain that I was getting in my head was horrendous. Think of your worst migraine and multiply it by 10. That is what it was like. And no tablet would make a difference. I was at the doctor's every couple of weeks trying to find a different tablet, trying a different procedure, trying to take the pain away.' (Image: SNS Group Ross Parker) Kellacher continued, 'I just kept trying to do the same things and slowly but surely, day by day, week by week, I started to get better. 'I do get emotional when I think about it now. I'm an emotional guy. I don't hide my feelings. I don't bottle things up. If I feel like I want to cry, I'll have a cry, if I want to celebrate, I'll celebrate, if I want to be angry, I'll be angry. I'm not very good at hiding things. 'But for a long time I didn't really want to speak about it. It was a good couple of years at least. I just couldn't bring myself to talk about it at all, even in the house with the wife. I don't think to this day we've ever really got into the nitty gritty of it. It was a hard, hard time. 'I am a lot better now. I tell myself that I am lucky. I was in hospital at the height of the pandemic. A lot of people lost their lives. I think I am very, very fortunate. I managed to get through it. I make sure that I try to enjoy the job to the full now.' Kellacher met his wife when they were both pupils at Inverness Royal Academy and he was tickled recently when he was, having been more renowned for his sporting prowess than his academic ability during his school days, asked by his alma mater to give a speech at their awards ceremony. He is sure he will enjoy the experience. 'I laughed about that with my wife and her pals,' he said. 'They were in the same year as me at the IRA and all went off to university afterwards. They have all become reporters, teachers, headmistresses, whatever. But I'm the one the IRA have asked to speak to the kids. I told them, 'You didn't have to go off to uni to get invited back guys!''
The Herald Scotland
15-06-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Scott Kellacher on his Celtic days and ICT's future
Yet, he still loved every minute of the time that he spent as an apprentice in the East End of Glasgow during the late 1990s and definitely made, quite literally it turns out, an impression in his spell there. 'All of the first team players were brilliant with the young lads back then, just brilliant,' said the Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager during a coffee and a chat in a function suite at the Caledonian Stadium earlier this week. 'Paul Lambert, Mark Viduka, Henrik Larsson, they were all great. I stayed in Paisley when I was down there and Paul lived nearby in Johnstone. I used to travel with him quite a bit and speak to him about football a lot. I was always asking him questions. 'But they were all good guys. The young lads used to sort the first team kit and we would speak away to the players when we did. I've always been like that anyway, have always been the sort of guy who will talk to anyone. So I would always be blathering away. 'Henrik was phenomenal. I got on really well with him. I was pure Inverness at that time and he would try to impersonate my Highland accent in his Swedish accent. Do you know what? He was absolutely horrendous at it.' Read more: Kellacher has shown he is far more than a pale imitation of the great managers who have preceded him at Caledonian Thistle – and Steve Paterson, John Robertson, Craig Brewster, Terry Butcher, John Hughes and Billy Dodds all enjoyed noteworthy successes during their respective tenures - since replacing Duncan Ferguson in October last year. He took over in the most difficult circumstances imaginable after the stricken League One outfit went into administration. Ferguson, who had been working for free as the financial crisis engulfing the club had worsened, was sacked. The SPFL then docked them 15 points and they dropped to the foot of the third tier table. But the man who had performed a variety of different roles during the preceding 20 years – he had been a youth coach, a kit man, a reserve coach, a first team coach and an assistant manager – rose to the considerable challenge and then some. He ensured they avoided relegation with a game to spare. It is easy to understand why catastrophe was averted after spending a little time in the company of the 44-year-old. He has an engaging, infectious personality, laughs and jokes a lot, radiates enthusiasm and positivity. But he acknowledges there have been tough moments. 'Over the years, I have been asked by a lot of people if I was going to go for the job when a manager has moved on or been let go,' said Kellacher. 'When I used to talk about it with my wife Audrey I would say, 'I'll know myself when the time is right'. Bizarrely, the time came when the club was in the worst position it could be in. (Image: Calum Chittleburgh - SNS Group) 'When I was asked to do it, I thought, 'Do you know what? If I step up I can try to really pick everybody up'. I like to feel that's the sort of person I am. I like to be upbeat, I like to drive things on. I thought, 'I'll step up and give it everything I've got'. 'I've loved it. Don't get me wrong, there's been a lot of sleepless nights. People don't see that side of it, don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I don't think I realised myself. I take my hat off to managers now. It's so different being the manager. But I've loved it.' Kellacher continued. 'It's been a real rollercoaster. I've used the word a lot in recent months. But there's been a lot of ups and downs. I knew there would be with the young squad we had. 'I probably felt every emotion going, relief, joy, pride, when we beat Arbroath and stayed up. There were so many things going through my head. If we had beaten Kelty a couple of weeks earlier that would have taken us away from Annan, would have given us a bit of breathing space. But we lost at home. So the pressure was mounting. 'There's so much that goes through your mind at that point. Am I doing this right? Can the young players handle the pressure? Because it is a lot of pressure. You're playing for people's livelihoods. You're trying to make sure the club survives. Read more: 'But we produced one of our best performances of the season against Arbroath. With Annan losing at Dumbarton, it was a perfect day. It was just euphoria. That's probably the best word to describe it. 'Saturday nights change when you're a manager. Saturday nights are not what they used to be. Whether you win, lose or draw, you are thinking about the next game. That night I just wanted to go home and sit. So that is what I did. I sat on the couch with the wife and kids. With a big smile on my face. 'I was really, really proud of what we achieved. I was involved when Caley Thistle won the Scottish Cup in 2015. I was first team coach along with Russell Latapy. It was an incredible achievement, was comfortably the biggest thing this club has ever done. 'But what we did last season, probably because I was in charge, meant that bit more to me. I knew what was at stake, I knew the importance of staying in the league. Who knows what would have happened if we had gone down again.' Kellacher has worked alongside a fair few Caledonian Thistle managers during his coaching career and has learned a little from each of them. But he emphasises that Hughes, the man who oversaw that aforementioned cup triumph, has been the biggest influence on his career by far. (Image: SNS Group Kenny Smith) 'In terms of team talks, Terry was unbelievable,' he said. 'When it came to getting a team pumped up for a game, he could be incredible. I was a coach at that time, but at the end of his team talks I would be saying, 'Let me out that door! I want to go out there! I want to play!' He had players in the palm of his hand. He knew how to motivate them, knew how to get the best out of them. 'But when John came in I really got an apprenticeship. I thought I knew the game as a coach, but he opened my mind up to a whole different way of playing football. He made me a massive part of things. He took me in with the first team, showed me how he wanted his team to play, how he wanted to create overloads on the pitch, how he wanted to get extra bodies into areas so that situations were always in our favour. 'His attention to detail was frightening. We were in here from seven o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock at night. The work we did was ridiculous. The one thing he always drove home to me was to leave no stone unturned, to make sure you had covered everything.' Kellacher added, 'The best example I could give of that actually came in the Scottish Cup final. The referee was Willie Collum and John saw that he had sent off players in his previous two games. So we shaped our team with 10 men in the week leading up to the game. 'We were prepared for, God forbid, one of our players getting shown a red card. And what happened in the final? Carl Tremarco got sent off and we went down to 10 men. We were ready for it. It is quite incredible really. 'I'm really, really close with John and still speak to him regularly. We just hit it off. I think we got on so well because we're very similar. We both love football, enjoy our jobs and want to do well. But we don't take ourselves too seriously either. You want that togetherness, that feelgood factor.' Read more: Kellacher witnessed first hand how Tommy Burns was able to foster exactly the same sort of unity at Celtic when he was on the books at the Glasgow giants as a kid. He had enormous admiration and affection for the late Parkhead legend as well. 'I had a few options when I was a boy,' he said. 'Arsenal and a few other clubs were in for me. I was quite keen to go down the road. But my dad originally comes from Castlemilk and he and all of his family are big Celtic fans. The moment they came in for me my old man said, 'There you go. Job done'. 'But it was a wonderful time. I learned a lot from Tommy. He was a great, great man. He treated everybody exactly the same, had a wonderful way about him. It didn't matter if you were a first team player or a youth player. He just had this aura about him. 'There was always a great craic, really good banter, when Tommy and his assistant Billy [Stark] were around. I watched the Tommy Burns documentary on television the other night and found it quite emotional.' Learning that the Caledonian Thistle creditors had accepted a company voluntary arrangement and that Alan Savage, the founder of oil and gas recruitment firm The Orion Group, was finally free to complete an £800,000 takeover also brought a tear to his eye and a lump to his throat last week. Kellacher is effusive in his praise of Savage – entirely understandably as the successful local businessman has single-handedly staved off the very real threat of liquidation - and is optimistic that far better times lie ahead both on and off the park following months of turmoil and uncertainty with him at the helm. (Image: Mark Scates - SNS Group) 'What Alan has done for the football club has just been incredible,' he said. 'Honestly, it has been so good of him to come in and step up. For the club, for the staff, for the fans and for the city, it's just been great. 'I'm not going to lie, the way it was going wasn't nice. But I'm not one for talking and thinking about the past, I'm one for looking at what's happening now. What happened will be part of the club's history now. But it wasn't a nice part of the club's history. 'Alan has made it clear that Inverness has been so good for him and he wants to give something back. But it's a good bit back, let me tell you, a good bit. It's actually incredible what he's done. We can't be thankful enough for it.' Kellacher has been pleased at the freedom and encouragement the new Savage regime has given to him and his coaching staff. But he is well aware they will need to deliver in the 2025/26 season and beyond. 'Alan has given my coaching staff and I his complete backing,' he said. 'He's said, 'Just keep doing what you've been doing. I'll be here to support you'. He's been brilliant with us. When he comes in he will always dip his head in the door and say, 'How's it going? Everything alright?'. 'But Alan definitely wants to make sure that he gets it right. He'll keep us all on our toes. He'll demand a standard about the place. He'll demand results on the pitch. That all comes with the job. We know we will have to step up. At the end of the day, he's a winner.' Read more: There appear to be no lingering after-effects of the existential crisis which Caledonian Thistle have just emerged from when you chat to Kellacher. Nor is there any evidence of the near-death experience which he personally went through four years ago. When he is asked about contracting both viral encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain which can be fatal in the worst cases, and Covid-19 at the same time, though, it is obvious the ordeal took a psychological as well as a physical toll on him. 'There was no warning at all,' he said. 'I was just in my bed and it happened. But I've got to go on what the wife tells me here because I can't remember. She got really frightened. She was told, 'Listen, you need to prepare yourself for the worst here'. 'I was in hospital for over two weeks. I was on oxygen for most of that time. And I was oblivious to all of it. My kids saw a lot of things they shouldn't have at that age even though my wife tried to protect them and look after them. 'It isn't nice having to go through the lumbar punctures and the brain scans. Lumbar punctures aren't very comfortable things and they are very dangerous. They have to drain fluid out of your spine to see if everything is alright. 'When I came out of the hospital, I said to Audrey, 'Right, I'll give myself a couple of weeks and I'll be back to work'. It probably took six or seven months. But I would go out for a walk for five minutes and I would be floored for a week. 'The pain that I was getting in my head was horrendous. Think of your worst migraine and multiply it by 10. That is what it was like. And no tablet would make a difference. I was at the doctor's every couple of weeks trying to find a different tablet, trying a different procedure, trying to take the pain away.' (Image: SNS Group Ross Parker) Kellacher continued, 'I just kept trying to do the same things and slowly but surely, day by day, week by week, I started to get better. 'I do get emotional when I think about it now. I'm an emotional guy. I don't hide my feelings. I don't bottle things up. If I feel like I want to cry, I'll have a cry, if I want to celebrate, I'll celebrate, if I want to be angry, I'll be angry. I'm not very good at hiding things. 'But for a long time I didn't really want to speak about it. It was a good couple of years at least. I just couldn't bring myself to talk about it at all, even in the house with the wife. I don't think to this day we've ever really got into the nitty gritty of it. It was a hard, hard time. 'I am a lot better now. I tell myself that I am lucky. I was in hospital at the height of the pandemic. A lot of people lost their lives. I think I am very, very fortunate. I managed to get through it. I make sure that I try to enjoy the job to the full now.' Kellacher met his wife when they were both pupils at Inverness Royal Academy and he was tickled recently when he was, having been more renowned for his sporting prowess than his academic ability during his school days, asked by his alma mater to give a speech at their awards ceremony. He is sure he will enjoy the experience. 'I laughed about that with my wife and her pals,' he said. 'They were in the same year as me at the IRA and all went off to university afterwards. They have all become reporters, teachers, headmistresses, whatever. But I'm the one the IRA have asked to speak to the kids. I told them, 'You didn't have to go off to uni to get invited back guys!''
