Warren Cummings believes he takes over a Turriff United side that is capable of challenging for trophies.
The former Bournemouth and Scotland defender has been appointed as the new manager at the Haughs and will take charge of his first game on Saturday against Cumnock Juniors in the second round of the Scottish Cup.
United are sitting seventh in the Breedon Highland League having progressed from being second bottom the season before last.
Cummings is keen to continue rising and said: “We have to remain on an upward curve.
“I spoke to the players on Wednesday night, success at every football club looks different, but the way I see it is that I want us to be in a position as quickly as possible to be challenging for trophies.
“Otherwise, what’s the point? Not every club can challenge for trophies, I understand that.
“But I believe with the group of players we have we can gain ground and start to challenge against some of the bigger teams currently doing well at this level.”
‘They’re ambitious which matches my thoughts’
The Turriff job is Cummings’ first in management at first-team level and he says before he’d even spoken to anyone at the club he was enthused about the prospect of managing United.
The 43-year-old added: “I had a lot of positive thoughts before I’d met anyone from the club.
“Different people around me talked highly of the set-up at Turriff so that immediately enthused me hearing what other people thought of the club.
“Then when I actually met the people at Turriff it wasn’t a disappointment.
“They’re enthusiastic people, they work very hard and they’re ambitious which matches my thoughts.
“They want success at the football club and I’m not here for any reason other than to try and deliver success on the pitch.
“I’ve also been to watch the team play and I was enthused by what I saw.
“I could see they’ve been well-coached, they played in a way that I enjoyed watching and they look like a group of coachable players that I’ll enjoy working with.”
Family connection
The majority of Cummings’ playing career was in England. He started at Chelsea before loan spells at West Bromwich Albion, Dundee United and Bournemouth.
He joined the Cherries permanently in 2003 and spent the next nine years there before spells with Wimbledon, Poole Town and Havant and Waterlooville.
Cummings was capped by Scotland in a game against the Hong Kong League XI in 2002 and also received a testimonial from Bournemouth against AC Milan in 2016.
Since then he has coached in Bournemouth’s academy and scouted for Bristol City.
Having moved back to his native Aberdeen in recent months Cummings has been getting familiar with the Highland League.
He said: “I know quite a lot about the Highland League because my son Liam Duncan and my nephew Kieran Yeats both play for Keith.
“I’ve seen a lot of Highland League games and I feel like I have a bit of a headstart in terms of knowing the league, I’m not coming in blind.
“Over the last six months I’ve seen a lot of the league and I’ve seen pretty much every team so I do know about the level.”
First game
In his first match in charge Cummings will attempt to guide Turriff to the third round of the Scottish Cup for the first time in a decade.
But he knows it won’t be easy against Scottish Junior Cup holders Cumnock at Townhead Park.
Cummings said: “It’s going to be a very difficult game for us, they’re a high calibre team and they have been for a long time.
“We’re under no illusions about the task we face, but it’s one we can go into with belief and confidence.
“If we get our tactics right on the day I believe we’ll be a match for them.
“The players are ready to deliver a good performance and if you do that there’s a good chance of getting a good result as well.”
