Graham Tatters has hailed the outstanding effort of Elgin City manager Gavin Price as he enters his fifth year in charge of the club this weekend.
The Black and Whites chairman revealed it took some persuasion to prevent Price following his predecessor Jim Weir to Forfar Athletic in 2017 after the pair worked together as the management team at Borough Briggs.
In the last two years, Elgin have finished third in League Two and were pipped in the promotion play-offs by a dramatic 3-2 aggregate defeat at Edinburgh City in May as they looked strong for going all the way into League One.
Tatters said: “When Jim took the Forfar job, Gavin was going to go with him. It took us a while to persuade Gav to stay, but it has been a great decision.
“He’s been an excellent manager. He’s very popular with the players, the crowd and the directors. His record has been very good.
“Yes, we’d like to have been promoted and certainly last season was a tremendous effort as we were just minutes away from taking Edinburgh City to extra-time when we were well on top. It wasn’t to be.
“Gavin can certainly let you know what he wants from you. He’s got a lovely manner about him, but can also put you in his place when he needs to. He doesn’t need to shout or scream to get his message across. He doesn’t go for confrontation a lot, but if he needs to, he can do it.
“I get on with him very well. You could say we’re a match made in heaven.”
Distance no object to manager Price
Tatters explained Aberfeldy-based Price puts in the miles for the job and ensures that every player at the club has his ear.
He added: “He got himself a holiday home in Lossiemouth and he is up and down the road all the time (from Aberfeldy). Distance was one of the reasons Jim left when he got a reasonable offer from Forfar.
“But Gavin takes the travelling in his stride. He doesn’t get upset about it. He was taking training twice a week, but with Steven Mackay (assistant manager) coming in, he only needs to do Tuesday. But, if he feels he need to, he’ll be up for both sessions.
“Gavin will be up here for the under-20s games and he talks to the 18s, 16s, 14s, 13s. He encourages them and tells them how their development is important to the club overall. He’s got a very good attitude.”
Playing duo hit 700 games combined
The manager isn’t the only one to have reached a milestone this week.
Two locally-based players have just broken through notable appearance numbers, with Brian ‘Soapy’ Cameron and Darryl McHardy passing the 450 and 250-game mark respectively.
Price took time out of his preparations this week to praise the duo.
He said: “To reach 700 games between them is incredible and they have shown incredible commitment.
“There’s probably not far away from being 25 years of commitment between them, which is fantastic.
“It’s a very rare thing to see, particularly with them both being born and bred Elgin boys. It’s special for the town and it’s a great story.”
Elgin climbed up to sixth spot at the weekend after their 2-1 win at Stenhousemuir and tomorrow host second-top Stirling Albion.
A week tomorrow, Elgin will take on Championship leaders Caley Thistle in the third round of the SPFL Trust Trophy.