Paul Hartley insists his first priority is ensuring Cove Rangers are not a one-season wonder after returning as manager.
Hartley, who guided the club to the Championship before leaving for Hartlepool, was confirmed as Jim McIntyre’s replacement on Thursday.
He has signed a contract until the summer of 2026 at the Balmoral Stadium, with his assistant Gordon Young also returning to work alongside Jimmy Boyle, who will remain on the coaching staff.
It has been a quick turnaround for Cove, who announced McIntyre’s departure at 5pm on Tuesday and were unveiling his successor a little more than 36 hours later.
Hartley guided Cove to the League Two and League One titles during three years with the club. He left for Pools in the summer but was dismissed in September after a nine-game winless run.
He returns to Cove not burned by the experience but determined to push the Aberdeen side on further.
“It was always an ambition to try manage in England,” said Hartley. “I was given that opportunity; it was a hard decision for me but I felt I had to take that chance.
“It didn’t work out the way I wanted it to but I felt I had to give it a go. Sometimes with negatives, you’ve got to take a positive from it.
“I’m delighted to be back working with the chairman, staff and players. The majority of players I know well, we’ve had great success here before – the remit is a bit different coming into the job mid-way through the season.
“Our task is to make sure we remain a Championship club. We’ve worked really hard to get here over the last four or five years to get here, even before that, so we don’t want to be a one-season wonder. We want to be an established Championship club.”
The change of manager came on the back of the 6-1 defeat to Caley Thistle on Monday and Hartley will return to the dugout for Saturday’s visit of Queen’s Park.
“We had a successful period here over three years, with everybody working together,” he added. “We need to win games, first and foremost.
“There’s a lot of good players here. The games I’ve took in this season they’ve beat the top two – Queen’s Park and Dundee – so the quality is here.
“If we can add a couple of players into it – we’re a wee bit short on numbers but I know the lads, the work ethic and spirit.
Cove sit eighth in the second-tier, in their first season at this level. All of their five wins to date have come at home and they are yet to record a victory on the road.
“I always thought this year was going to be hard if I’d stayed on,” said Hartley. “It was going to be a testing year.
“In previous years we’ve been used to winning most weeks, home and away. You’re in a league where eight of the teams are full-time and that gives them a big advantage.
“But from what I’ve seen, there’s not a big gap between top and bottom and on our day, we can beat anybody. It’s finding that consistency to win more games of football.
“The short-term is to remain in the Championship and push on as far as we can this season.”