Ryan Christie hopes to call on the experience of his former managers after taking the reins at Junior club Maud.
The Fraserburgh legend retired from playing in August and has now stepped into the dugout.
Christie, 36, has been inspired by playing under Mark Cowie and James Duthie at Bellslea and Kris Hunter before them.
He said: “I spoke to Mark and James first. Although I didn’t necessarily need their approval, I wanted to get it and get their thoughts before I spoke to Maud.
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Maud JFC are pleased to announce Ryan Christie will take over as Manager with immediate effect. Ryan or to many Boomer had a successful playing career for over 20 years with Fraserburgh FC and we're delighted he has joined us to start his managerial career.— Maud Football Club (@maud_jfc) December 6, 2021
“They both came into management at a young age and have done an unbelievable job with the Broch and I will be pestering them for their thoughts on things over the next six to 12 months.
“I want to follow what they’ve done at Broch and keep the youth policy at Maud and try to develop in the way Fraserburgh has.
“It’s not just been under Mark – under Kris Hunter the club came on leaps and bounds on and off the park, so I’ll be leaning on him for his thoughts on things as well.”
‘There’s so much potential’
Maud are sitting 12th in the North Region Superleague and Christie is looking forward to getting started.
Living in New Deer, it is his local club, and he added: “I always thought at some point I’d go into management.
“I’ve been helping out with the youth at Fraserburgh for a while and that’s something I’ve really enjoyed – to put something back into the club which gave me so much.
“I’ve trained with Maud before and my uncle John Fraser played for Maud, so I went to a lot of games when I was younger.
“At that time the club was booming really and, although we’re not in the greatest league position at the moment, I think there’s so much potential to improve and a lot we can give back to the community as well.”