After a little over six months apart, Cove Rangers and Paul Hartley have been reunited once again.
In a quick turnaround after the departure of Jim McIntyre on Tuesday, Hartley – also his predecessor – was unveiled as his successor less than 48 hours later.
He was the manager who took Cove to the Championship, before departing for Hartlepool United in the summer. The Pools move did not go to plan and at the turn of the year, he finds himself back in familiar surroundings.
Cove will be hoping he can pick up where he left off, given his last game in charge saw them lift the League One title.
Second time round as sweet as the first?
There is always some trepidation with managers returning to clubs for the second time, particularly if the first spell has been successful.
Guarantees in football are in short supply and living up to past achievements can prove challenging.
From Hartley’s perspective, it is a low-risk move. He took the chance on a move to England and it did not work out; he is now back in an environment with players and staff he knows well.
But while the demands at Cove have not changed – front-foot football hand-in-hand with success – have not changed, the tests for them have got harder since Hartley was last in the dugout.
The majority of the league is now full-time, rather than the minority. The two part-time teams in the Championship are in the bottom three, which is maybe not a surprising fact to an outsider.
But the middle of the pack is not too far away and had Cove come out on the right side of some of the finer margins in the first half of the season, they may well be higher up.
They have acquitted themselves well against the majority of clubs this season and Hartley has achieved success with most of these players before.
Silverware may not be on the horizon this season but there will be an expectation for Cove to climb the table.
Chance for familiar Cove faces?
As with any change of manager, it can be a chance for those on the fringes to have a fresh crack at the starting line-up.
In this case, Hartley will already know the majority of players within the squad and some of those who have not been playing were key figures for him last season.
Morgyn Neill was a regular at the back during the 2021-22 title-winning campaign. But he had been told by McIntyre he was free to leave the club and has barely featured since.
But if he is to remain now Hartley is back in charge, Neill may find himself back in the starting line-up quickly. Jack Sanders has been recalled by Kilmarnock, Kyle McClelland is just back from injury and Shay Logan is out injured, meaning Scott Ross could be needed at right-back.
Iain Vigurs is another. He was a lynchpin of the midfield a year ago but the 34-year-old has not started a game since September 24.
With Charlie Gilmour out for a significant period of time with an ankle injury, Vigurs could be seen as an ideal tempo-setting replacement for the on-loan St Johnstone man.
Robbie Leitch, Ross and Cieran Dunne are others who have found themselves on the fringes of late and may see this as a chance for a new start.
Sympathy for Jim McIntyre
The other side of the coin is that another man has lost his job, a reminder of the unforgiving nature of club management.
McIntyre freshened up the squad in the summer when it was short on numbers, doing so in quick time to ensure Cove were ready for their Championship debut.
Some signings have not worked out but others have proven their worth. Gilmour, prior to his injury, had formed a reliable partnership with Blair Yule in the middle of the park.
After a difficult start to the season, Gerry McDonagh has impressed as a strike partner for Mitch Megginson. Max Johnston and Luis Longstaff, two summer recruits, had formed a good understanding down the right, prior to the former’s return to Motherwell.
Good results against Dundee and Queen’s Park were delivered but late goals have cost Cove key points. Defensively, they have not been as secure as they should be.
The 6-1 defeat to Caley Thistle on Monday was an aberration and proved to be McIntyre’s last game in charge. The board felt, with Hartley available and the transfer window open, now was the time to make a change.
But there was no shortage of hard work put in by McIntyre during his six months in charge.