Ross County make final manager decision as former Hearts man Don Cowie secures safety

Don Cowie has ben given the Ross County manager job on a full time basis (Pic: SNS)

The Staggies secured their place in the Scottish Premiership next season after hammering Raith Rovers in the play-offs.

Former Hearts midfielder Don Cowie is expected to remain as Ross County boss and lead the Staggies into next season after securing their Scottish Premiership status.

Having beaten opponents Raith Rovers 2-1 at Starks Park earlier in the week they hammered the Fife club 4-0 in the Highlands to confirm their top flight status in emphatic style. Simon Murray was the star of the show while incoming Jambos midfielder Yan Dhanda signed off on his Staggies career as he will have wanted.

Speaking after the match, Cowie said: "I spoke to the chairman, we're really aligned and he indicated I was the person to take the club forward. I felt I was ready to be a manager three months ago.

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“The last three months have only strengthened that. I'm really proud of the team. 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. Raith are a very good team, they had a fantastic season."

Cowie, who played for Hearts for two and a half seasons between 2016 and 2018, has worked as a coach with Ross County since ending his playing career there in 2020. He was assistant manager to Malky Mackay and was appointed interim head coach when Derek Adams’ disastrous 12 game spell came to an end in February.

Although he failed to secure automatic survival on the final day of the regular league season the impressive showing in the play-offs has secured him the gig full-time although it looked likely he would have ben given the job even if they had dropped down to the Championship. Cowie wont have much time to relax though and will now need to think about replacing some key players, like Dhanda, in the summer transfer window.