Kyle’s head first into team
Friday, 19th Nov 2021“I was really glad to get my opportunity on Saturday and hopefully I can get many more and continue my run in the team
“I’m getting into their heads right now” claimed John Hughes this week. For one of the first team squad, the new manager’s intentions took more of a physical nature. Wing back Kyle Macdonald explained John Hughes impact on him on Friday of last week
“Personally I didn’t know anything about him coming in so it was a bit of a surprise when I saw him coming in on Friday, especially when he slapped me on the back of the head as he walked in.
“I was standing with my back to the door but he slapped me over the head and kept walking on. It was just whoever was first in the door was getting it!”
Despite the crowning glory of such an unusual entrance, Kyle Macdonald feels that everyone has reacted well to their new gaffer:-
“Every time someone new comes in it is a chance to impress, a chance to show that you should be starting every week, show that you should be playing and show that you are a good player. I think everyone has felt like that especially when he came in on Friday. The Friday session is normally a relaxed training session but it was a lot more intense just because there was a new manager in and we all wanted to show that we are a good player.”
Standards has been a theme of the week and Kyle added:-
“He has good standards that we all want to get to and stay at. If we get to there we will be able to shoot up the table no bother.”
Kyle was delighted to start the first match that Hughes watched and hoped that playing in the the first league win made a good impression:-
“It couldn’t have gone much better. First start, first win, what more could you ask for up in Inverness with a big long journey away? You don’t want to be coming home in a sad quiet bus. You want to come home with everyone in a good mood and a lively bus on the way home, especially from there.”
Kyle enjoyed being handed the role as a right winger and felt it was not too dissimilar to his previous wing back and right back roles:-
“I am comfortable played in those positions so moving me one up didn’t make too much difference to me. Hopefully I can continue to play because it is not the best of times as a footballer when you are not playing. Especially when your team is not doing so well, you feel like ‘get me out there, I can help the team’. I was really happy to do that on Saturday, they got the win so hopefully I can continue to do that.
“It was a lot of hard work, I had cramp a couple of times in the game, I enjoyed it and I am happy that Greg and Whitts put me there. It is great to still have them about, I get on well with them. I think they believe in my ability and I spoke to them a few times when I was not in the team. They were saying ‘keep going, you are doing really well’. I was really glad to get my opportunity on Saturday and hopefully I can get many more and continue my run in the team because I can help out with crosses into the box.
“I do feel that I bring something to the team that we maybe don’t have. We do have tricky wingers who like to take the ball but maybe I’m a wee bit different as well with my defensive work.”
Kyle works hard on his game and does quite a bit extra most days practicing finding a striker or a mannequin in the box with good quality deliveries. He explained:-
“When you play out there, it doesn’t matter if it’s at right back, wing back or right mid it is all about getting good deliveries into the box. We have tall strikers so it would benefit them. I do a bit with Nikolay Todorov, he enjoys balls into the box. It is something that I like to take pride in. I think it is a good part of my game that I can bring to the team and help out with.”
When he has not started games Kyle noticeably puts in extra work after games and is frequently last off the park:-
“Saturday is basically my working day and the way I see it is I should be working. If I’m not playing in a game I am missing out on ninety minutes of the hardest working day of the week. So if I’m not doing extra, I’m going to be falling behind.
“Imagine Saturday there if I hadn’t done extra for the last couple of months I would have been done after 45 minutes. It is something that I feel that I need to do and feel that I should be doing. It is not something that I need to be asked to do because I feel it should just be expected of you. It is my job to be fit, my job to be able to play 90 minutes.”
Kyle saw out the 90 and the added seven minutes to celebrate the first league win at Inverness since 2007 and he added that his father Alex was there to share the joy:-
“It was great to see the fans making such a noise. My dad was amongst them and nearly broke his ankle jumping up and down after the game.
“He has been at every game even when I wasn’t playing. He says ‘I’m going to be there when you come on, I’m going to be there even if you are not playing’. I have good support from him and the rest of my family.
“He coached me when I was younger but that wasn’t my most enjoyable period of football. I think that prepared me for any sort of intensity of training that we do now because I don’t think anything will come close to that. He is a bit of a mad man but it is great that he comes. He loves his football so I don’t think he would miss a game for anything.”
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