Ross County manager Jim McIntyre is determined to secure a cup final place for chairman Roy MacGregor.
The Staggies take on Celtic tomorrow in the last four of the League Cup at Hampden Park as they aim to reach the final of the competition for the first time.
It will be County’s first appearance at the national stadium since their run to the Scottish Cup final under McIntyre’s predecessor, Derek Adams, in 2010 when they famously defeated Celtic 2-0 to set up a showdown with Dundee United, who claimed the trophy with a 3-0 victory.
McIntyre was handed the job as Adams’ replacement by MacGregor in September 2014 and he is desperate to repay his chairman’s faith by securing a final berth.
McIntyre said: “I’d love to get to the final for the chairman. He’s put so much in. A lot of people don’t realise he does it for the love of the club. That’s it in a nutshell.
“For that whole area, he wants to give people an opportunity and that’s why he took over the club. He wanted boys to have a chance of playing professional football in the Highlands, so to give him another day out would mean more to me that what it would mean for myself.
“It would be a fantastic achievement. The last time Ross County were in a final he showed how extremely generous he is by taking about 1,500 staff who work for him and giving them all hospitality on the day. That shows how much it meant to him and how well he looks after people. It would be great to get there.
“I’ve had his full backing and I have to justify that. I have to say why I want it but ultimately it’s results on the pitch that help sell that and, fortunately for us, we’ve put together a consistent run of results since the turn of the year, and that helps in terms of where you want to take your club and what you want to do.”
McIntyre is treating the match like any other and says there will be nothing different in his approach, adding: “The players are really looking forward to the game. I can see that in training this week and it was great to get a result last week, going into this big game.
“They can relax and go and enjoy it. We’ll do what we normally do. It’s very important coming to semi-finals that we keep the preparation the same. It’s very important we play the game and not the occasion.
“We need to just concentrate on our opponents – the players have enough to think about trying to win the match without thinking about going to Hampden or being close to the final.”