How Cowie 'galvanised' survival bid & earned County job

Top flight or not, Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor had already decided Don Cowie would be the man to lead the club next season when placing him in interim charge in February.

Perhaps it highlights the faith MacGregor had in the 41-year-old rookie boss - or was it the result of handing P45s to two more experienced managers in the space of the previous three months?

Maybe the answer is somewhere in the middle. Regardless, the County chairman felt he had no choice but to throw him in the deep end.

"He has galvanised the club," MacGregor said of Cowie, who secured the Highland club’s Scottish Premiership status in the play-off with an emphatic 6-1 aggregate win over Raith Rovers.

The County boss added: "I felt I was ready to be a manager three months ago, the last three months have only strengthened that."

After confirming survival, Cowie's tenure will now extend to next season. But how did he rescue a club "in trauma".

Why Cowie call was needed sooner

Twelve months on from securing their Premiership survival via the play-off, County found themselves in the same position on Sunday.

Despite the pitch invasion and the jubilant scenes that followed, the message from striker Jordan White was "we don't want to celebrate being in this position every year".

But given the feeling around the club when Cowie took the reins, perhaps it was an outcome they would have accepted at the time.

That mood was caused by the disastrous 12-game spell of Derek Adams, whose appointment was supposed to be a safe one after Malky Mackay's exit.

Instead, it brought few points but plenty of box office post-match outbursts.

Cowie, a County youth product who went on to play in the Premier League while gaining 10 Scotland caps, was promoted from coach to manager and tasked with picking up the pieces.

The Highland club were 11th when Cowie took over, the position they finished the campaign in, but bottom side Livingston were within six points.

It has been far from vintage for Cowie's County. They hadn't kept a clean sheet until Sunday, nor had they won away from home prior to Thursday.

But they steered themselves well clear of bottom with impressive home form, losing just once in eight while claiming big wins against the likes of Rangers, Hearts and Hibernian.

That wasn't enough to escape 11th, though, with St Johnstone beating them to 10th on goal difference.

It's impossible to be certain, but an earlier promotion of Cowie might well have avoided play-off stress.

Sixteen points were claimed over 15 Premiership fixtures - that averaged over a 38-game season would mean a 40-point finish, which would have comfortably secured 10th spot.

"I'm really proud of the team," Cowie said. "We put ourselves in a difficult position, we had an opportunity to not be in this play-off, but we dealt with it extremely well."

What now for Rovers?

No words will take the sting off this for anyone of a Rovers persuasion, but that won't stop us trying.

Dundee United flexed their financial muscles and eventually eased to the Championship title, but Ian Murray's men pushed them the majority of the way.

The 69 points they amassed would have been enough to finish in top spot in the previous two seasons - that must be used as motivation for a second tier with no real big hitter next term.

With Livingston coming down from the top flight and Falkirk coming up from the third tier, the 2024-25 campaign will arguably be the first in the over a decade where there is no standout favourite for the Championship.

With that in mind, Rovers will be determined to recover and come back stronger.

"It's been a long season for us, but we'll come back bigger and better," Murray told BBC Scotland.

"We dust ourselves down now, take a break and come back. We don't want to be in the play-offs next year, we want to win the league."