Hay: There is no crisis



HAWICK coach Jim Hay has come out fighting as rumours circulated this week over his future at the club.

He has slammed speculation suggesting he quit after last weekend's defeat at Currie, which left the Greens just one place off the bottom of the league, and vehemently denied any full-time altercation between the coaches or the players.

And he toldthe Hawick News a meeting on Monday between coaching and playing staff at Mansfield Park was no crisis summit.

He said: "We had a chat at the end of the game and basically I don't think the lads were understanding how we wanted them to play and there was a disagreement.

"I was quite calm and collected and I just walked away at that stage because I had nothing else to say.

"But there was no question of quitting, there were no bust-ups, no fights and no changing room brawls.

"If we've got any dirty washing to be done, then we'll do it in-house.

"But I'm not a quitter.

"Yes, I was frustrated and annoyed, but the one thing I wouldn't do – although I'm not saying I'm going to coach Hawick for ever more – is I wouldn't quit during the season."

At Monday night's meeting, which was attended by coaches and almost 30 players, team members were given the chance to air any grievances they had anonymously and it is understood a number of issues were tackled.

But Hay insisted the meeting had been arranged for some time to review the first seven weeks of the season.

"It wasn't a crisis meeting," he said. "The strong consensus coming out was that everybody needs to try harder and we've got to bounce back.

"There's no way I'm going to quit over the players. Ultimately if the players don't like certain things then that's the nature of the beast because when you've got a squad of players competing for just 15 places then there's going to be boys disappointed.

"But when we select a team, we select the best players for that team and for the club."

Hawick are just five points off basement boys Stirling County and Hay admits tomorrow's encounter with fellow strugglers Glasgow Hawks has taken on mammoth importance.

He said: "We've set ourselves the target of winning the next three games. If we beat Hawks, Melrose and Stirling County, then that puts a whole different perspective on things.

"But we can't afford to lose any more games because then we'll find ourselves isolated."

This article was posted on 17-Oct-2008, 10:18 by Hugh Barrow.