The stars aligned for Docherty and Ross County, says Ferguson

The “stars aligned” in terms of Ross County and new manager Tony Docherty’s shared ambitions, the club’s chief executive Steven Ferguson has said.

Docherty joins the Championship outfit three months on from his dismissal from Dundee, after he guided them to Scottish Premiership survival last season.

Ferguson said the 54-year-old had a “fire burning like a manager who thinks he has got things to prove”.

He added: “That aligns with Ross County and the fact we’ve got things we need to prove – we want to win this league and we want to get back to the top flight.

“That’s what Tony wants and that’s what we want, so really the stars aligned in that situation.”

Ferguson said Don Cowie, who left County by mutual agreement last month, had built a squad capable of promotion, and it was now Docherty’s job to “light the fire” needed to achieve that aim.

Docherty said he had been impressed by the “passion and ambition” of Ferguson and chairman Roy MacGregor during their initial conversations.

He said: “I am really excited and desperate to get started.

“I would like a playing style and an identity on the pitch that the fans can get excited about.”

Docherty said the Championship was an “extremely difficult” division, and he would be drawing on his previous experience as a promotion-chasing assistant manager at Kilmarnock and St Johnstone to get County back into the Premiership.

“I see Ross County as a top flight football club, but there will be real competition,” he added.

Docherty said he was proud of his two seasons at Dundee, and revealed that over the past three months he had visited David Moyes at Everton and Brendan Rodgers at Celtic to get an understanding of how other managers worked.

He said he had also enjoyed his spells as a BBC pundit, and that the role had given him a chance to take a closer look at teams in Scottish and European competitions.

Meanwhile, fans expect Docherty to bring exciting changes, according to Ross Morren, founder of The County Corner podcast.

Morren said: “Managerial appointments can sometimes split the fan base, but there is overwhelming support for Tony Docherty.

“He is well-known for his attacking brand of football.”

Morren added: “I think we’ve lacked identity to our style of play.

“We’ve the likes of Ronan Hale, Jay Henderson, Adam Emslie, Nicky Clark and Kieran Phillips – there’s a lot of attacking talent there.

“If he is able to harness that then it will be an exciting time to be a Ross County fan.”