THERE IS a temptation to view this afternoon's Scottish Cup tie between Jim McInally's East Stirlingshire and his old team Dundee United as a first managerial encounter with the club that made him as a player and manager.
More than 10 years at Tannadice, McInally's early years on Tayside were under svengali-like Jim McLean. But these have not informed his trackside approach. If anything, he represents the antithesis of the football-obsessive McLean. Soured by four sea
sons in charge of Morton which ended when he simply "didn't want to be there" after "waking in the night worrying" about the stick from the stands failure would see heaped upon him, McInally isn't prepared to allow the game to consume him.
"I'm sick of the hysterical reaction to football in this country," he says. "There are an awful lot of bad things happening in the world and we treat a bloody game as if it's life and death. That's not for me. Wee Jim was crazed about football but I don't see how that is healthy.
"People say 'oh, you must take this and that from him' but I'll never get as wrapped up as he did. The only way I'm like him is that I won't generalise with players after games. You say well done and every player thinks they are doing a good job, when some might have under-performed. I will go round each and tell them what they must improve or have done well. He would do that.
"It scares me to see people trying to be like him. We played Montrose and David Hannah was manager and he was going berserk on the touchline. After a few minutes I shouted to him: 'Are you Jim McLean?'. He kept at it and I called over again. It just didn't seem right.
"You might take bits and pieces from any manager but it can be the simplest thing. I played for Brian Clough and have always held true to his philosophy that centre-backs must be able to head the ball. Never mind if they can pass it from the back, just make sure they can head it."
McInally's head was left spinning after he couldn't restore Morton to former glories he believes the hard-core have kidded themselves involves top flight football. "That explains away one season in the past 20 years," he sneers. He won the Cappielow club promotion to the Second Division but resigned in February of this year after a run of results left them in ninth place.
Within four weeks, McInally had been contacted by Shire chairman Spencer Fearn and chief executive Les Thomson to take over at Scottish football's joke club, who had to avoid finishing bottom of the Third in order to prevent them losing their full league membership. The Monifieth-based McInally didn't feel it was beneath him.
"Football doesn't owe me a living and, though there was a stigma attached to the club, the days of £10-a-week for players had long been replaced with decent financial backing allowing them to compete on a level playing field.
"The club gave me my enthusiasm back because it was so pleasurable to work for people who got such joy out of small but positive steps; people who gave me my confidence back by trusting me when it had taken a dent. I celebrated much more and got so much more out of the experience of beating Montrose on the last day to take us off the bottom of the league than I did winning the Second Division with Morton.
"I'm committed to this club, it doesn't eat up more time than it should. I'm certainly not doing it to put me in the shop window, not hanging around hoping I'll get another full-time post.
"I look at someone like Jim Duffy and wonder about the wisdom of him going to Brechin for what folk are saying is his last chance. Duffy has good media work and I wonder about giving up such a good gig. Then there is Jocky Scott in his 60s returning to Dundee again on a hiding to nothing. I don't necessarily get their motivation. I distance myself from the sort of love for the game."
In sitting fourth East Stirling are currently in contention for a play-off place. But, having lost their past two league games, the visit of United and that guarantee of 2,500 crowd in Ochilview for what promises to be retro cup tie with crackling, fizzing atmosphere included is a "brilliant distraction". It will stir brilliant memories.
"The Scottish Cup was the Holy Grail for United and to win it in the most unexpected circumstances, under Ivan Golac when Rangers were going for a treble, made for a great weekend and allowed us to do what seemed unattainable after playing in the finals of 1987, 1988 and 1991."
McInally remembers his "disgust" with his own behaviour in being red-carded in the 1991 4-3 classic with Motherwell "and after having a wee bit pride at contributing to something special", a chance missed that would have put United 2-0 up late on against Celtic three years earlier, and the grim journey home after St Mirren vanquished United the year before.
Waiting to hear from Angus City Council about a job coaching youngsters, McInally can expect the future to provide him a regular fix of football, whatever his links to the senior set-up. He just doesn't need to mainline on the game.
