Midfielder Kenny Gilbert displayed remarkable courage playing on with restricted vision to help Ross County’s rise through the divisions.
The former Aberdeen youngster, who also played for Scotland at youth level and Hull City, made his mark in the Highlands between 1997 and 2003.
As a devoted Dons fan, Gilbert says he couldn’t believe it when late Gothenburg Great Neale Cooper wanted to sign him for Ross County from Hull City.
By 1997, County were three years into their life in the senior leagues and Cooper was the club’s second manager since entering the SFL, following Bobby Wilson.
Gilbert would made 183 appearances for the Staggies, and when his time to leave came under Alex Smith in 2003, the club in third place in Division One, now known as the Championship.
Three years before this, however, a freak training ground accident led to permanent eye damage which altered the course of Gilbert’s career.
In fact, the operation led to him not playing at all from November 2000 until February 2002 when they were in the First Division.
But Gilbert told The Press and Journal why, before he went under the knife, he couldn’t ignore Cooper’s call to play in a Third Division title-clinching contest in Brechin in 1999.
‘One in a million’ training pitch accident led to Gilbert’s eye damage – but he still played in title-clincher
Setting the scene, he said: “An incident happened in training where I think it was David Winters kicked the ball, and it hit me directly on my eye.
“It was probably a one-in-a-million occurrence, split my pupil and I had to go and get another operation to get my pupil fixed.
“So, the doctors said to continue to play full-time, I was risking my eyesight.
“They told me I shouldn’t be playing, but we needed to get something from the Brechin game to win the league in 1999, and Coops asked me to play. I played and we won 1-0.
“Mark Haro scored and then we got a promotion (and the title), and then I got my eye op.”
Switch from midfield to full-back due to sight issue
Gilbert explained how the operation did at least buy him extra playing time, although it changed his positions on the pitch.
He said: “They always told me that I shouldn’t go back and play football, but I did, and it only lasted another couple of years because my vision was still restricted – I had no vision out of my left eye, although I got the corneal transplant, but it didn’t give me any good vision.
“I had to alter my game; I went from playing in the middle of the park to playing full-back.
“So, as a player, I changed a little bit, and whilst I was always there for Coops because he relied on me – I was his captain for most of the time – when Alex Smith came in, he was kind of looking for his own players.”
Gilbert moved from Aberdeen to Hull – which led to Neale Cooper’s call
When Cooper came calling to sign him, Gilbert detailed the exhilarating feeling of getting the chance to sign for a hero.
He said: “I went on loan to Hull from Aberdeen when Dean Windass came up and spent the best part of 18 months there (after joining permanently in 1997).
“I was at a stage in my football career where I’d been in and around the (Aberdeen) first team and needed to play games – and the best way to do that back then was to go out on loan.
“It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I went and played in Hull’s first-team and got the experience I needed.
“I wouldn’t say I was getting itchy feet, but Hull were in a bit of a financial mess, so it was time for me to try and look to get back up to Scotland.
“After speaking to a couple of clubs, I spoke to Neale, who was my hero, being an Aberdeen fan, (him being) a Gothenburg great and a driving force in that team, so it was a no-brainer.
“I picked up the phone, had a half-an-hour conversation, and I was on my travels back up to Aberdeen to meet (chairman) Roy McGregor, and then we jumped in Rolls-Royce, or Mercedes – or whatever it was at that time – up to Dingwall.”
Dire derby kicked off County career
Gilbert’s County debut was an unremarkable midweek debut defeat against Caley Thistle, which made him question his decision – but not for long.
He always loved the cut and thrust of Highland derbies, which he feels ICT got the upper hand in too often for his liking.
Gilbert said: “The little bit of needle was there for the games playing against Barry Robson, Barry Wilson, Iain Stewart – it was brilliant.
“Dennis Wyness was one of the best players I played against in that division – he and Bobby Mann had a telepathic communication. Wherever Dennis was Bobby would find him.
“Although they were probably a better footballing team than we were, we had good players and a good work ethic amongst us.”
County chief Roy MacGregor came into changing room to demand promotion
The quest for County to get out of Division Three was a tough one.
It took five seasons to finally win promotion, and Gilbert admits the players were feeling the heat to deliver success on their full-time wages.
He said: “We had a few cracks at promotion, and we got a lot of stick from the fans because we were spending money on all the players.
“On a few occasions, Roy MacGregor came into the changing room when us full-time guys were there and laid it on the line that we need to get promotion.
“This was a five-year plan as it was at the time, and we were getting close to that.
“There was a lot of pressure on a lot of young guys who had never experienced that before.
“To get out of that Third Division was the first milestone. We directly got out of the Second Division the next year and then we just went full strength from there.
‘If Roy MacGregor wasn’t still there, who knows where County would be’
“I’m still a County fan and, when you’ve played that many games for a team and been through a lot on and off the field, it’s pleasing for me to see Roy still there – if Roy wouldn’t have been there, who knows where the club would be.
“He’s a man that keeps everything together.
“Now they’ve got Fergie (Steven Ferguson) there as chief executive, and he has seen it all.
“He came in as a 17–18-year-old. He’s been captain, he’s been a manager, he’s been a youth development officer, he’s been everything and now he’s a chief executive.
“To have that sort of backbone of a club means they’re on the right path and now obviously with Don Cowie now managing the club, just staying in the Premiership is a success.”
Cooper called for ’11 Kenny Gilberts’
Cooper told the press on one occasion he wished at times he had 11 Kenny Gilberts in his Ross County.
The player himself admits: “Yeah, it was a nice thing to say, but it got me pelters in the changing room from the guys, that’s for sure.
“To be honest, Neale built a few teams. He turned over a lot of players – there were always new guys coming in.
“But the core of the team – myself, Steven Ferguson, Ian Maxwell, Nicky Walker – they were there and that kept the guys together.
“The new guys came in and they embraced the culture because it was a team full of guys that worked hard.
“If you didn’t work hard, you weren’t in a team, so we created a good team mentality – and that was down to Coops. He built a good team, and he picked the right players.
“For us, when we first went there, five, six young kids that had been at senior clubs and not made it to the first-team as regulars. We all had something to fight for, we all wanted to be professional players.
“Neale got a good core, and we did everything together, we lived together, we went out to watch the movies, we went to bingo, we went out to watch the football, we had drinks together and it was a great time for the club.
Even John Hewitt and Mark Hateley signed for Neale Cooper in Dingwall
“He then gradually he added in some experience. Alex Taylor probably was the first one, he was an experienced pro, along with Derek Ferguson.
“Mark Perry came in, he was another experienced player, as were Brian Irvine and Hugh Robertson.
“Coops also brought in John Hewitt for a while (playing seven times). The Gothenburg legend for Aberdeen came in and I remember he scored a winner for us against Queen’s Park at Hampden – a free-kick into the top corner.
“(Rangers and England legend) Mark Hateley came in for a couple of games, too – but I don’t think he fancied it very much.
“Neale got us young boys playing with some senior pros who had done everything in the game, and we learned a lot from them.”
Gilbert aimed to be at County forever
Gilbert’s only first-team appearance for Aberdeen came in a 5-1 defeat from Coventry, but his form for County raised interest back at Pittodrie.
There was also the potential of move back to England, but for Gilbert, playing for Cooper brought enough satisfaction.
He added: “I played umpteen first-team games for County. I was a captain. We took that team from the Third Division up to the First Division.
“My only disappointment is I had to stop earlier than I wanted to, aged 27.
“I had seven good years at County. I would have been there forever, but things didn’t pan out that way.
“Even during my time playing for County, Aberdeen were looking to come back in for me.
“Coops told me there was also interest from an English club, who I later found out was Nottingham Forest.
“But listen, I had a great football career, and I look back with no real regrets, but I was just a little bit unfortunate.
“I never got to carry on for as long as I wanted to, because I was a fit boy and that was never a problem.
“However, when you take half your line of vision away then it was difficult – but I still enjoyed it, even though I had one eye!”
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