Craig McClean has revealed management has been a long-term ambition of his after being installed as interim boss of Ards following the departure of Warren Feeney.
The experienced full-back – most well-known in football circles for his successful stint at Crusaders – had been appointed as Feeney’s number two this summer after playing for the County Down side.
He has now been promoted –temporarily at least – to the hotseat following Feeney’s shock exit to Bulgarian side OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad, although he insists he is not looking beyond this week.
“Ever since the start of my playing career, I knew I wanted to manage,” McClean explained to Match On Tuesday.
“I’ve always been interested in man-management, in the tactical side of things, of how to deal with players both individually and collectively.
“Of course. I’d be interested in taking the position on permanently because it is such a huge opportunity, but the truth is this is something that has come totally out of the blue.
“Until midday on Saturday it was something that would not even have registered with me, so I’m still in a bit of shock.
“I’ve been told my job is to steady the ship and that is something I’m more than happy to do – to help out the club and the group of players too.
“My main priority is to make sure the players remain focused and happy because I’ve worked closely with them and there’s a large degree of trust there.
“As far as I’m concerned it will be business as usual for me this week because Warren let me take a lot of the training sessions anyway.
“My job is to prepare the players for beating the Welders on Saturday and anything other than that is further down the line.”
McClean celebrated his 34th birthday in July but insists he is enjoying his switch from playing to coaching and is insistent nothing drastic at the club will change.
“Going from being a player to a coach is a big transition for sure, but I’m hugely enjoying it,” he added.
“I’ve probably been the link between the players and the manager this season and again, that is something that I want to maintain and not have any drastic change.
“I will have a couple of training sessions and tactics that might work, one or two ideas of my own that I think will work, but there won’t be much changing from the situation prior to that.
“It’s a really good bunch of lads in this dressing room – a few of them seem to be in a bit of shock at the moment but that’s natural.
“I told them to enjoy their week- ends and get back to training as normal on Tuesday night and work towards getting a result on Saturday.”
Ards are currently sitting fifth in the Championship – eight points from the top three but, conversely, six points clear of the bottom half.
“What we have been missing is consistency,” continued McClean.
“We are as good as any side in the league, but the likes of Portadown have put six or seven results in a row together whereas our performance aren’t at that steady level.
“When we played the Ports it was a game of two halves – we were far superior for the first half and were two goals ahead but couldn’t see it through and they took the points.
“It’s a hugely competitive league and there’s a group of six teams who could challenge for promotion and we’re included in that. We don’t want to look at anything long-term at the minute, just to get ourselves stabilised and moving forwards.”
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