Raith Rovers gaffer Dougie Imrie on why he can't live without football coaching

The Stark’s Park gaffer told Raith TV that his fledgling attempts at coaching young footballers had come while he was a player at Hamilton Accies – whom her served in two spells between 2010 and 2012 and again from 2014 to 2019.

Imrie recalled: “It was just by chance that I came into coaching and got to where I am today, because I kept getting asked the same question at Hamilton: ‘Can you come in and do a couple of sessions?’

"I was like: ‘It's not for me, I just want to concentrate on playing’. But once I went in a couple of times, I got the bug.

"And it was just to see the smile on the kids' faces, seeing first team players come in to take the session, which really gave me that excitement and gave me a purpose of giving something back as well. And from that day, I've loved every minute of it.

"It's just second nature now. You just put the session together, you go and coach, you go and speak in front of groups. It's just building that confidence. It's the same as a young player, you're building confidence all the time. I love it and I couldn't imagine my life now without being at the forefront of a football club.”

Imrie, who before joining Raith managed Greenock Morton from 2021 to 2025 after working as Livingston first team coach, was then asked the best and worst things he’d learned from former bosses he’d worked under.

He said: “I think for any manager or coach throughout their career, we've always picked up good and bad habits from certain individuals.

"If we go back to Alex Neil (Hamilton Accies boss from 2013 to 2015), he didn't really worry too much about the opposition. He more focused on us as a group.

"I only worked with Alex for a short period of time, but he knew how to get the best out of people, his man management was phenomenal.

"He always used the phrase of a clock. If one bit of the chain doesn't work, the clock doesn't work.

"So he used that analogy as an 11. If one player wasn't doing what he was meant to do, then the whole team failed.

"And I've always kind of carried that motto, because he's right, if the clock doesn't work properly then it's not going to work at all.

“As a player, you know what you enjoy or don’t enjoy about training sessions.

"So as a manager, you try and give players what you enjoyed. You're not going to give them stuff that you didn't enjoy, because it's going to reflect on you. So I think you take little bits and mould it into your own stuff.”

On Livingston manager David Martindale, whom Imrie worked under five years ago, Imrie added: “It’s no coincidence Davy’s had the career in management that he’s had because he’s that good.

"I never worked under him as a player, but as a coach. He was different class. I still speak to him to this day quite regularly for advice.

"Davy looks after his players and his staff to the max. That's probably something that I took with me to Morton from Davy, that if you look after people, you'll get more out of them.”

Raith – sixth with 25 points from 21 matches – continue their William Hill Championship campaign at home to third-placed Arbroath tomorrow in a 3pm kick-off.