Manager McStay admits: 'I've got the bug again'

by Joe McHugh 'I've got the bug again' Willie McStay said as he enthused about life in charge of Ujpest Dozsa.

After over a dozen years working with the youth squad and reserve team at Celtic the one-time Sligo Rovers manager is back in the cut and thrust of management in a country that he had never even visited.

Ujpest are sitting in third place at the winter break, four points behind leaders Videoton who they beat home and away in November to reach the semi-finals of the Hungarian Cup.

Winning the club their first silverware of the century is the task facing McStay in the months ahead with the former Celtic defender delighted to be back in the firing line.

“Management gives you a real adrenaline rush and a sense of fulfillment,” he explained despite the recent spate of dismissals that left Jim Gannon, Gary Megson and Alan Irvine out of work over Christmas. “It's win, lose or draw and the responsibility is on me.

“It's been refreshing to be judged by results every week but I'm still coaching as well. As a coach I have to demonstrate much more to get my message across, there's much more involved with dvd and video analysis to get things through.

“This job has given me an edge, the challenge will hopefully make me successful at Ujpest and also elsewhere along the road in my career.

"Ujpest haven't won a trophy for eleven years, we're still in three competitions and winning something would be fantastic. The challenge for me has been to go to a new country and learn.

 “I've had a fantastic six months. I was walking across the pitch at Steaua Bucharest with 27,000 there in my first match, that was amazing.

“I turned to Joe (McBride) and said 'The last time that we were working together was at a sports centre in Stirling Univercity with no-one there'. They had a running track around a terrible pitch and there we were were walking across a lush surface in front of a full house. I liked that. It's been really stimulating for both of us.”

Football may be a universal language but proving yourself in an alien environment demands more than ability.

Being accepted by a new dressing room and into the football community isn't easy with few managers moving abroad to achieve success on the continent.

Beating Ferencvaros in a heated local derby turned acceptance for McStay into support from the Ujpest fans with the local media also won over.

He admitted: “Initially the media and other managers were sceptical of me, they wondered who it was coming over. Now I have a good relationship with the media and they appreciate that win, lose or draw I'm there to face them.

“The other managers in the league respect me. It's natural that they were suspicious, they'd have preferred that a Hungarian got the job so it was a challenge to win them over.

“When you walk into a dressing room as an unknown you have to win the players over, you need to get them playing for you. That's the key to management.

“At Ujpest we've got a good team spirit, Hungarian players can be very emotional, it's either highs or lows. Usually when they lose the first goal they lose the game but we've went behind nine times this season and went on to win seven of the games.

“That's not been done by design but it shows that there's something about us. Some of the papers call us the Miracle Men and that's a compliment, there's a belief about the players.

“Those results come from the work that we've put in at training, the fitness levels and preparing the players properly. If you aren't up to the demands of the game you can't come back.”

Part 2 Tomorrow: Leaving Celtic after 15 seasons