Chairman Rodger Morrison said it was a sad day for Peterhead following the resignation of Jim McInally and hailed the departed manager as a “wonderful servant”.
McInally, who was Scotland’s longest-serving boss, called time on his 11-year reign at Balmoor this afternoon.
He leaves with the Blue Toon one point adrift of Clyde at the bottom of League One following Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Airdrieonians.
McInally, 58, took charge of Peterhead in October 2011 and led them to the League Two title in 2014, as well as the Challenge Cup final against Rangers at Hampden two years later.
That season the Buchan outfit finished third in League One, their highest position during McInally’s tenure, and, after relegation via the play-offs in 2017, he led the Blue Toon to the League Two title again two years later.
There have also been memorable cup results along the way with Peterhead taking the scalps of Dundee, Hearts and Dundee United, with all of those sides in the Premiership at the time.
In 2013, the Blue Toon also defeated Rangers in a League Two clash at Ibrox.
‘I tried everything to get him to reconsider’
Morrison tried to convince McInally to stay and is disappointed to lose someone he counts as a close friend.
He said: “It’s a very sad day for the club – it (resignation) has been mentioned before and I’ve always persuaded Jim to keep going.
“It’s a strange situation. When you’re bottom of the league you usually want rid of a manager, but that wasn’t the case with Jim.
“We’ve had a horrendous season with injuries and difficulties trying to get some players we wanted in.
“But things were improving with players coming back, however, Jim felt he was letting me down and letting the club down.
“He’s a principled guy and he felt it was time he went – although I tried everything to get him to reconsider.
“I think after the defeat at Montrose (last weekend) he was really drained.
“I’ll miss Jim, not just as a manager, but as a friend. We were really good friends and we still will be.
“I even tried him with another role in a sort of director of football-type position, but he didn’t feel that was for him.
“It’s not a good day for Peterhead – Jim has been a wonderful servant to the club.
“There are some managers that are very demanding, but Jim has never been like that.
“When Covid arrived, he was the first person to come and say we needed to discuss reducing the wages to help the club.
“And, since things have gone back to normal, I haven’t managed to get him back to what he was on before. He’s point blank refused an increase.
“He has always had the best interests of the club at heart and if I set the budget he never argued with that, he just said: ‘that’s fine, I’ll get on with it.’”
Memorable moments – as Peterhead begin search for new boss
Looking back on some of the highlights of the last 11 years, Balmoor chief Morrison added: “Jim has taken us to two league titles, we’ve played Rangers at Hampden in a cup final, we’ve beaten them at Ibrox.
“We’ve also taken a lot of scalps in cup competitions and these have all been great days.
“Jim’s done a great job. With where we are and trying to attract players, his standing in the game has made a big difference.
“There’s not many people he doesn’t know and that has been a big factor for us.”
Moving forward, McInally’s assistant manager David Nicholls will take charge in the interim while the job is advertised.
Applicants have already been in touch with Morrison and he hopes whoever is appointed can guide Peterhead away from the League One relegation zone.
He said: “Replacing Jim is going to be very difficult, we’ve always been proud to have him as manager.
“He’s been so easy to work with and there’s no question he’s going to be a big miss.
“Within an hour of the news breaking, I’d had three applicants. But the job will be advertised and we’ll go through an open process.
“We always knew it would be tough this season because League One is very strong and we’ve had a lot of injuries.
“But our ambition is to try to stay in this league.”
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