Roy MacGregor believes Ross County are benefitting from having more than just a manager in Malky Mackay.
Staggies chairman MacGregor appointed Mackay last summer, turning to the 49-year-old after John Hughes moved on having clinched Premiership safety.
Mackay had most recently completed a four-year stint as Scottish FA performance director, having previously spent his entire managerial career in England with Watford, Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic.
MacGregor was keen to hire a manager to perform an extensive overhaul of the club, which included a vast rebuild of the playing squad.
The Staggies chairman believes the changes Mackay has implemented to areas such as the club’s academy, recruitment and medical strategies have vindicated his appointment.
MacGregor said: “The report card for Malky after six months is everything we hired him to do.
“If I take away the football side, in my own mind a lot of it was reorganising the football side of the club as well as managing.
“Normally people hire managers to manage 100%. This wasn’t what we were doing.
“I felt in bobbing around from manager to manager, they all come with different strategies and different ways, their own players and staff.
“We needed to get back and focus really hard from top to bottom, first team to community, where we are all aligned.
“It’s a plan that if someone leaves, we don’t go and destroy the plan and it’s just picked up.”
Staggies chairman senses excitement from fans following initial backlash
MacGregor faced criticism from sections of County’s fanbase in the wake of Mackay’s appointment.
Much of the discontent was centred on Mackay’s involvement in text messages of a discriminatory nature which were exchanged during his time as Cardiff City manager.
After failing to win any of their opening 10 matches, County ended 2021 on a strong run of form which took them up to 10th place.
Following the 3-2 win over Dundee in December, Mackay spoke of the increasing connection developing between supporters and his much-changed side.
MacGregor senses a shift in mood towards Mackay among the fanbase.
He added: “Looking back, some of the backlash from our supporters at the beginning was more than I thought a Highland club could have produced.
“Maybe we didn’t get the chance to explain and show the depth of what the thinking was in hiring him. It was more than a football manager.
“The routemap is very clear. He got a hard time because of his past, and people were not giving him a chance.
“In the last spell I think people have got quite excited about what they have seen.
“There’s a bit of flair, we are the fourth highest goalscorers.
“We have tried to play good football and win.
“We had a difficult start on the back of Covid and then some difficult games.
“In the last eight to 10 weeks we began to see growth, a team that was developed and together.
“We are getting there, and I’m confident going into the last 18 games we will have enough to move up the league a bit.
“I’m not on social media at all, but I hear that there has been a turn towards him and an understanding he has got something there.”
Mackay has long-term vision at Dingwall
MacGregor believes some of the results of Mackay’s efforts away from the pitch will not be realised until further down the line.
He added: “In that journey we are on, I’m really confident that we have probably more than achieved what I thought we would get from Malky.
“That wasn’t totally on the park. As much as that is really important, the setup for the next 10 years was as important to me.
“People won’t see that off the field stuff as much. We have changed things up completely. We have seen a wee bit of what we had hoped, which was trying to get a better team on the park.
“People probably haven’t yet seen some of the stuff that’s going on behind the scenes which has been put in place, apart from the recruitment.
“That sort of thinking was all Malky’s thinking. A lot of what we have got from Malky, we are further on than I thought we would be.”
