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Ross County's Neale Cooper yesterday dismissed suggestions that he could leave the Third Division championship leaders to succeed Bert Paton as manager of Dunfermline if the call comes from East End Park.
Paton's resignation after five years in charge of the Pars triggered immediate speculation that Cooper's name is high on the Fife club's list of management candidates. However, Cooper, 35, signed a two-year extension to his current County contract a fortnight ago keeping him at the Victoria Park club until the end of season 2000-01 and he insisted he is fully committed to his job in Dingwall.
"It's flattering to be linked with a vacancy at a Premier League club and especially with Dunfermline but it's a classic case of people adding up two and two and getting five," said Cooper yesterday.
"As far as I'm concerned, I've still got a lot to achieve with Ross County and I'll be here until the club and its directors say otherwise."
Since leaving the Pars to take on the County post in June, 1996, former Aberdeen, Aston Villa, Rangers and Reading defender Cooper has established himself as one of Scottish football's best young managers.
In his first two seasons in charge, County just missed promotion and Cooper has already steered the Dingwall club to the quarter-finals of the Scottish League Cup and into pole position in the Third Division.
He worked under Paton behind the scenes at East End Park and readily acknowledges the Fifer's influence on his own highly successful management style.
He said, "He had a softly-softly management style which was a big contrast to many of the managers I played for during my career - very different from Alex Ferguson, Ron Atkinson and Graeme Souness, for example - but he is a brilliant man-manager and motivator in his own way.
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Ross County boss Neale Cooper hopes there is no repeat of last week's adventure when his side once more makes the long journey to Dumfries today to tackle Queen of the South in the Tennent's Scottish Cup second round.
After an eventful night at a Dumfries hotel which Cooper likened to Fawlty Towers, last week's game was called off last Saturday morning, leaving the Dingwall men to make the six-hour journey home without having kicked a ball.
"We're taking no chances this time, so we'll be staying at a nice hotel I know in Glasgow," said Cooper.
"We've got over the disappointment of everything that went on last week and in some ways that has acted as a spur to the players, who are hungry to do well.
"Queen of the South appear to think that we are the underdogs and that suits us fine. We intend to try and attack to win the game but, in all honesty, I'd settle for a draw to take them back to Dingwall."
If the game is tied the home fans will not have long to wait for the replay, with a 7.30pm kick-off on Monday already pencilled in.
An away game against homeless Clydebank at Dumbarton's Boghead awaits the victors.
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Ross County hat-trick hero Neil Tarrant gave his mum and dad a belated Christmas present on Saturday when he rattled in the goals in the 3-1 win against Queen of the South which propelled the Dingwall men into a Tennent's Scottish Cup third-round tie against Clydebank.
Tarrant said: "My mum and dad travelled to Dumfries from Darlington to see the game and not only did they watch me get a hat-trick, but it's the first goals they've seen me score in professional football.
"They saw our game at Berwick Rangers earlier in the season and also came up to Tynecastle on the night we took Hearts to extra time and penalty kicks in the League Cup.
"However, I'm sure for them the Queen of the South game was the best."
Tarrant's thoughts were echoed by his mum, who said: "It was a lovely day and we really enjoyed the game, especially seeing Neil get his goals.
"We know that he's really happy in Dingwall and when we went there in November we thought the views from the Ross County football ground were spectacular."
Tarrant went home to Darlington with his parents for the weekend and will meet up with the County squad tomorrow night for the Division 3 game against Berwick Rangers at Shielfield Park.
A big future is forecast for the 19-year-old, whose 16 goals this term have brought him to the attention of bigger clubs.
Huddersfield are one of many clubs known to have expressed an interest but the youngster has just signed a new two-year contract and County boss Neale Cooper is in no hurry to lose another impressive hit-man.
Cooper said: "We've already transferred Derek Adams to Motherwell this season and, although I know Neil's got a tremendous future in the game, hopefully we can keep him here for a while.
"For a lad of 6ft 2in, Neil has a tremendous touch and a great left foot. He's a lovely lad and it's a pleasure to have him at the club."
Cooper's opinion was echoed by Queen of the South boss Rowan Alexander, who said: "Before long I'm sure a Premier League side will come in to snap up Tarrant. He's a big, strong lad who shows great close control with the ball at his feet.
As for the Englishman himself, he is just enjoying his footballing life to the full in the Highlands.
"I love it in Dingwall. There's a great buzz about the place and the fact that I've just committed myself to a new two-year contract shows that I'm happy to stay at Ross County, at least for the moment," he said.
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Ross County's Division Three trek to Berwick, scheduled for tonight, was postponed after a 3.30pm pitch inspection at frozen and badly-rutted Shielfield Park yesterday afternoon.
The match will now go ahead on Tuesday, January 26, provided the Dingwall club is not involved in a replay of Saturday week's Scottish Cup third-round tie away to Clydebank.
On a high after Saturday's 3-1 Tennent's Scottish Cup second round win over Division 2 Queen of the South, County had hoped to pick up their 16th league win of the season at Berwick's expense.
The news from Shielfield Park, which took serious punishment during Berwick's friendly against a Hearts XI on Saturday, saw County boss Neale Cooper immediately switch focus to Saturday's top-of-the-table home clash with Brechin City.
"If we can beat Brechin in Dingwall on Saturday and push our seven-point cushion over them into double figures, we'd be in a tremendous position because we'd make ourselves even harder to catch," said Cooper.
Just as important, the shrewd County boss wants to see his players maintain a league record which no other Scottish League club can match this season - just 14 points dropped in 20 league starts this term. Premier League pacesetters Rangers have dropped 19 points in 21 league games, runaway Division 1 favourites Hibs have dropped 16 points from 23 starts and Division 2 leaders Livingston have allowed 15 points to slip away in 20 games.
The statistics totally vindicate the attacking policy which Cooper adopted quite publicly in August - a highly successful policy which he has no plans to drop.
He said: "At the start of this championship campaign, I argued that draws and the two points each one cost us, were the main reason we missed promotion so narrowly last season.
"So we set out at the start of this season determined to be positive and to attack our opponents home or away because we reckoned we'd lose less headway having a go at anybody and everybody.
"Losing the odd game, and we've only done that four times this season so far, may cost three points occasionally, but losing one and winning our next game still sees us come out ahead of sides more inclined to be cautious and settle for two draws and two points.
"It's an approach which has served us well in every competition this season and especially in the league. It's got us on course for promotion with 16 games to go and we're sticking with it."
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The rivalry between Ross County goal-hungry strikers - Steve Ferguson and Neil Tarrant - could spell trouble for Brechin City in this afternoon's Third Division top-of-the-table battle if Victoria Park passes an 8.15am pitch inspection.
The pair have hammered in 28 goals between them this term, teenager Tarrant chipping in with the Scottish Cup hat-trick which sank Queen of the South last weekend taking the 19-year-old Teesider to 16 for the season.
And 12-goal Ferguson threw the gauntlet down to his cup specialist teammate yesterday, saying: "You score the goals to keep us in the cup and I'll do the business in the league."
Their scoring contest has helped County hit the 50-goal mark in the Third Division, a league record only runaway Nationwide League First Division title favourites Sunderland can better anywhere in Britian.
"We've given ourselves quite a record to live up to after scoring goals for fun as a side at the start of the season and competition for places right through the side is keeping every player on his toes," said Steve.
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Ross County's top-of-the-table Third Division showdown with Brechin City will go ahead at Victoria Park tomorrow night - if the weekend blizzards which swept the Highlands relent in time.
Saturday's game was postponed with the Dingwall pitch under five inches of snow, but there was good news for both County and Brechin from Shielfield Park, where third-placed Stenhousemuir went down 2-1 to Berwick Rangers.
"The Brechin game being off was a disappointment but we didn't lose any headway in the title race thanks to results in the games which were played," said County assistant manager Jim Kelly.
"We're not relying on any favours from anybody to get us promoted this season but Stenhousemuir's defeat was good news for us and for Brechin, making the game, provided it's played, even bigger if anything.
"We'd normally give our lads Monday off but we'll consider bringing them in to train if the weather looks like breaking in time for us to play."
Meanwhile, County officials have gone on weather-watch and an early indication of prospects for the game will be relayed to Brechin today, with an early pitch inspection likely to be scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Saturday's postponement left Brechin manager John Young and his squad facing a day by their phones and the possibility, in the future, as the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question.
"If the game is postponed again we could go down in the history books as one of not very many, if any, Scottish League clubs who have played three Scottish Cup games on the trot," said Young.
"If the game in Dingwall goes off again, we could go into Saturday's third-round game against Albion Rovers without kicking a ball in the league since our two second-round cup games against Keith, and that would be one for football anoraks everywhere."
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Ross County switched their attention to Saturday's Tennent's Scottish Cup clash with Clydebank yesterday after a 4pm pitch inspection saw the Dingwall club's delayed top-of-the-table clash with Brechin City shelved at Victoria Park.
Thawing snow lying on top of a sodden playing surface saw tonight's rearranged Third Division clash go on the back burner with the new date February 10, prompting County manager Neale Cooper to switch focus to this weekend's cup tie.
He said: "We had the players in this morning for training, when they would normally have had Monday off, in case the Brechin game got the green light and that has now given us a flier with our preparations for Saturday's tie."
Cooper, who joined up with Aberdeen's other Gothenburg greats at Pittodrie last night, will cross swords with another former teammate - Clydebank manager Ian McCall - at Boghead on Saturday and he predicted his former Rangers clubmate will be rousing the Bankies for a cup run to ease their financial plight.
"Ian was always a great competitior as a player and he'll be instilling that attitude into his players because he will have taken note of what we've achieved in cup competitions this season," said Cooper yesterday.
"We're preparing for a bit of a mudbath at Boghead, which looks likely to turn the tie into a real pitched battle, the sort of challenge we've risen to already this season on a couple of occasions. We've had Clydebank watched twice now and we'll start preparing for the game specifically towards the end of the week."
Cooper, well used to reports that bigger clubs are tracking County players, played down weekend reports linking Premier League Kilmarnock with the Dingwall club's French midfield man Frank Escalon.
He said: "Frank is back in contention for a regular first team place after a frustrating spell for him and for the club, while he has been fighting to shake off a niggling hamstring injury which ended up seeing him go back to France for specialist treatment.
"If Killmarnock are watching him I'm not surprised in the slightest because there's no doubt in my mind that he can play at Premier League level but, for the time being at least, he's concentrating on getting himself fighting fit and back in our side again."
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This article appeared in the Scottish Daily Express (written by Robert Martin) as a preview to Ross County's cup tie against Clydebank next Saturday.
Ross County boss Neale Cooper knows a thing or two about winning Scottish Cups, but he will not ne telling his players all about it before Saturday's clash with Clydebank in Dumbarton.
Only two other managers in Scottish football have a Scottish Cup record that can compare with Cooper - his former Dons team-mate Alex McLeish, who got his hands on the trophy five times, and Airdrie manager Alex McDonald, who won it four times with Rangers.
But despite his success at Pittodrie, which saw him scoring in his first final at the tender age of 17 - albeit from two yards out - Cooper insists there is no secret to the run of success the Dons enjoyed, winning the Cup in '82, '83, '84 and '86.
"I was fortunate enough to win so many medals with Aberdeen at a very young age, but none of us did anything special, we were just part of a very good side at that time.
"We won three-in-a-row, then got to the semi-finals, and then went back and won it the year after that.
"After that the team broke up, but it was something special to have achieved that at such an early age.
"To play in a Cup Final at 17, and score one of the goals that won the game was a feeling I'll never forget."
But Cooper will not be reminding his players of his own record ahead of Saturday's game, instead preferring to focus on how well County have done in recent years, qualifying for the quarter-finals of the League Cup this season, only losing on penalties to Hearts after extra time at Tynecastle.
"I don't preach things like that to the players because that's not the way to go about things," he added.
"We showed in the League Cup this season that we can be a good cup side, and if we work hard I don't see why we can't do something similar in this tournament either.
"When we were knocked out by Hearts we had a wee stumble for four games, and I put that down to tiredness, especially mental tiredness.
"But we had a few meetings and sorted things out, and since then we have put together a good run abd are playing very well now."
Cooper returned to the ground where he made his name on Monday night for Aberdeen kit-man Teddy Scott's testimonial as part of the Dons side which won the European Cup Winners' Cup. After the game he admitted that a diet was high on his priorities after he said that he had "pu on a couple of pounds".
"I.ve put on a little bit of weight since my playing days at Aberdeen, but it was lovely to see all the lads again and I really enjoyed the whole night."
Meanwhile, Ross striker Neil Tarrant has picked up the Tennent's Scottish Cup Player of the Round Award after his quick-fire hat-trick agains Queen of the South in the last round.
Tarrant's goals all came in a nine-minute spell, equalling the record set by Alan Moore when he was playing for St Johnstone. Tarrant admitted that he would have attempted to better the feat if he had known about it.
"Knowing that now I wish I'd taken the penalty quicker," he said. "But hopefully, we can do as well in this round and I can do enough to win another award."
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If Ross County can account for Clydebank in their outstanding Tennents Scottish Cup third-round match they will have home advantage over either Clachnacuddin's conquerors Queen's Park or Dundee United, whom the Dingwall outfit dumped out of the League Cup earlier in the season.
"We've got the game at Clydebank to get out of the way first and then hopefully we can meet Queen's Park," said County boss Neale Cooper.
He added: "But if it's Dundee United it would give us another chance to take them on, although when it came down to it I'm sure they'd be up for the tie as well.
"The Clydebank game will be a big stepping stone on the way to the round of the last 16."
County's third-round tie against Clydebank on Saturday was postponed after a 10.30am inspection ruled the Boghead pitch unplayable due to waterlogging.
The Dingwall side travel to Berwick on Wednesday night for a crucial Third Division fixture that County need to win to maintain their push for promotion.
County assistant manager Jim Kelly said: "Berwick Rangers are undefeated in their last 10 starts, in fact we were the last team to beat them."
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ROSS County head across the border to Shielfield Park tonight aiming to notch up a hat-trick of Third Division victories over Berwick Rangers as the curtain-raiser to a daunting week.
On Saturday, County tackle Dumbarton at Boghead with a second trip to the Sons' ground coming up three days later to take on Clydebank in their delayed Tennents Scottish Cup third round tie.
"We've got a hectic seven days in front of us which will see us spend a lot of time on the road and it's important we come through the week well," said County manager Neale Cooper yesterday.
"Berwick have lost just once, in the Scottish Cup, since we beat them 3-1 in Dingwall back in October, so their recent form has been pretty impressive and they won't make it easy for us to head back up the road with three points.
"Thankfully, we've got a full-strength squad available with Alex Taylor, Frank Escalon, Gary Woods, Davie Matheson, David Ross and Robbie Williamson all fit and pushing for places so we're in good shape going into a hectic week.
"We'll be taking it a game at a time and, although we beat Berwick 2-0 down there early in the season, I'll settle for a 1-0 win this time to keep our league run going and maintain our cushion over Brechin."
Hosts Berwick will be at full-strength and manager Paul Smith is confident his side will give County a run for their money coming off a 5-1 closed doors friendly victory over Second Division East Fife at New Bayview last Saturday.
He said: "We gave a good account of ourselves in Dingwall last October, only losing 3-1 after our keeper was sent off, a development which was the real turning point of the match up there.
"At the time we were still trying to gel as a side after bringing in a few new faces at the start of the season.
"On Saturday, we won and won well against East Fife, despite the fact that we chucked in a few youngsters and took a look at a trialist and I'm confident we'll give Ross County a hard time down here."
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Ross County's eagerly-awaited Tennent's Scottish Cup fourth-round tie against Clydebank at Boghead looks set to go on ice again - but only by 24 hours.
A home game against either Queen's Park or Dundee United awaits the winners.
County boss Neale Cooper said last night: "We were due to travel to Boghead to take on Clydebank on Tuesday but Dumbarton now have a rearranged league fixture against Berwick Rangers on their own Boghead Park that night.
"We've now been told that our cup tie will probably be moved to the Wednesday."
The County manager was delighted with a hard-earned point from Wednesday's Third Division game against Berwick Rangers at Shielfield Park.
"We did really well to take a point on a heavy pitch. We suffered from lack of match practice. Training's all right but there's nothing like having a competitive match.
"After a long journey on the bus, we did well to fight back, with Mark Haro outstanding at the back. We needed that hard 90 minutes under our belt."
Ironically, striker Murray Hunter scored his first goal in a Berwick Rangers strip since being signed from County at the end of last year and Cooper was quick to spot the significance.
"When Murray scored the goal that put them 2-1 up I thought here we go', but Roy McBain managed to grab the equaliser with nine minutes left," said Cooper.
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