I’ve witnessed tragedy on the training field. I was at the Hillsborough disaster. That’s what you call real pressure
IT would be natural to assume that Brian Rice is feeling the heat with his Hamilton side currently rock bottom of the Premiership amid a grim run of 11 winless matches.
After personally bearing witness to two real sporting tragedies, however, the Accies boss has no problem coping with any pressure that football throws his way.
As a Nottingham Forest midfielder in April 1989, Rice was an unused sub sitting in the main stand at Hillsborough, just the length of the 18-yard box from the Leppings Lane end.
He watched in horror as the crush unfolded at the Sheffield ground that would claim the lives of 96 Liverpool fans in what remains the worst disaster in British sporting history.
Then, in 2005, Rice was present at the Falkirk training ground at Little Kerse when 17-year-old Bairns prospect Craig Gowans was electrocuted and died when equipment he was carrying struck an overhead power line.
Weighed against those two traumas, Rice has no problem dealing with the stress of being at the foot of the table ahead of a weekend showdown with fellow strugglers Hearts in Lanarkshire.
‘How do I deal with tough moments in this job? I’ve had kids dying on the training field,’ said Rice. ‘I was at the Hillsborough disaster. Those are tough moments.
‘I draw on all the experiences I’ve had and I try to come in every day with a smile on my face, ready to work. That’s how I deal with it.
‘There is pressure on me every day. Pressure to put on good sessions, to pick the right team, to win games.
‘But no one asked us to come into this industry. It was my decision and any pressure that comes, I need to deal with it.
‘You get the praise when it’s going well and you get the slaps when it’s not going well.
‘I have to have broad shoulders to take the heat off the boys. I think I deal with it okay. But I do take it personally at times.
‘I take things home with me and live with it, but it doesn’t stop me wanting to do it and striving for better.’
The fragile position of a football manager was highlighted this week with the sacking of Kilmarnock manager Angelo Alessio after just six months at Rugby Park, with his side sitting fifth in the Premiership.
It is a brutal industry but, as Rice attests, it is also an enjoyable and addictive way to earn a living.
Asked about Alessio’s departure,
Rice said: ‘I wasn’t surprised, no. I’m not surprised at anything that happens in football at any time.
‘I don’t know many other industries where someone is under contract and they can just get rid of you.
‘I don’t know many other industries where people clamour for you to get sacked.
‘Do bus drivers have people wanting them sacked? But nobody forces us to be in this industry, so we just accept it.
‘It’s about my love of football. It’s something I’ve been involved in since I left school. It’s addictive. It’s my life.’
Hearts may be a bigger club but Rice insists that alone won’t protect them from the dreaded drop down to the Championship.
The Tynecastle club now has a new manager in place, with Daniel Stendel having replaced Craig Levein.
The former Barnsley boss is keen to see his team play the Gegenpress system of counter-attacking favoured by Jurgen Klopp’s 2019 Champions League winners Liverpool.
But Rice will be focusing solely on his own players and system on Saturday when the Gorgie side arrive at the Fountain of Youth Stadium.
‘Nobody is too good to go down,’ he said. ‘You are where you are because that’s where you deserve to be.
‘It doesn’t matter the size of the club. Look at Leeds United. They’re a massive club yet they can’t get into the Premier League — although they’ve got a good chance this season. So the size of the club doesn’t matter. It’s what happens on the pitch that matters.
‘I don’t see a new manager at Hearts presenting different challenges. It’s still the same players. It might be a different formation, set-up, way of going about things. But it’s still my team going out there to try to win the game. We have looked back this week at some footage of his Barnsley teams.
‘But I’m not focusing too much on Hearts — it’s about us. Sometimes you can go overboard looking at the opposition and it can send a negative effect through your players. We will be as positive as we can and try to put a team out on the pitch to try and win the game.’
I’ve been in football since I left school. It’s addictive. It’s my life.