Ahead of Saturday’s season-opener at Wigan Athletic, new club captain Greg Docherty spoke of his excitement at getting started following a successful summer.
“We’re in a good place, I feel,” he said. “Saturday against Portsmouth was a lot more the identity that we want to be, and it gave us a real confidence boost. We knew we could obviously get there but after Wimbledon I think the fact that we managed to iron out a few details that we needed to and we implemented it on Saturday, it was a real confidence boost for us.
“It’s a new team, of course. There’s a lot of new players but we’ve been together a while now. We’re just all really looking forward to the start of the season.”
Docherty explained how he was able to reset during the off-season.
“I was working over the summer, to be fair. But it was more mentally taking the time away. I found last season tough in a lot of ways, purely from not playing a lot. When things are out of your control it can be quite draining at times. The season finished at a time where it allowed me to have a bit of time,” he explained.
“I knew I had a bit of time to go and think and reflect and just have a clear vision coming into this season. Then this opportunity arose and it was something that from my first meeting with the manager, I was just ready to go.
“To join a club and have that belief instantly from the Manager and particularly a Manager like him who’s done so well in the game, particularly this league that we’re in at the moment, it’s a real confidence boost. But it doesn’t stop there, you know, he made it clear in the meeting that it wasn’t a case of, ‘you’re brilliant, come to this club’. It was like, ‘you need to get better at that, but I will help you get better at that’.
“The things he said, I already had thoughts about that myself, so we aligned in that sense. So it’s been good. I feel like we’re a good balance together, and hopefully I can go and deliver the faith that he’s showed in me.”
Jones has demonstrated that faith by giving the Scot the armband, and Docherty explained that he was relishing the challenge.
“Where I’m at in my career now, the captaincy is something I’ve been craving,” he said. “I had a role last year as one of the leaders off the pitch in the Hull dressing room. That’s all well and good, but you want to be leading on the pitch - you want to be leading by example. That’s something I’ve always tried to do. I’ve tried to conduct myself every day to that standard that I believe is right. I’m really enjoying the role so far, and I think it’s something that I’m going to embrace. It’s semi-new to me, but I am really looking forward to it and I feel like I’m absolutely ready for it.”
Docherty will be taking inspiration from the players that have helped to guide his own journey.
“I’ve played under many good captains,” he said. “One that I will say - he might not have been the out-and-out captain at Rangers, but Steven Davis is a guy that I leaned on a lot when I played with him at Rangers, for what he has done in his career, the amount of success he’s had, the number of appearances, the way he conducted himself, the way he handled pressure situations as well. It’s something that’s always stuck in the back of my mind, just how he was as a person and how calm he was. He told the squad what he thought when he needed to, but it was always done in a constructive way.
“Working with guys like that, I’ve definitely picked up little bits and hopefully I can add my own little bits as well. So far, it’s been really good. I’m very lucky that the dressing room at this club is fantastic. Everyone is so together. I’m the leader but of course there’s four or five other guys in there as well that are real good leaders also.”
The new skipper is looking forward to helping the careers of the many young academy graduates with which he will be sharing the pitch.
“It’s massively exciting, and I feel like it should be really exciting for the fans as well,” he said. “I think back to the weekend - I played alongside Karoy [Anderson] in midfield and then I had TC [Tyreece Campbell] up front, and they were two of the best players on the pitch. There’s real talent, and it’s up to us as a squad to help them grow. If we can help them grow and fulfil their potential, it’s only going to take us forward as a club. When I was at Hull I had Keane Lewis-Potter and Jacob Greaves. You look at where they’ve got to in their careers now, they had such brilliant seasons in League One.”
Docherty cannot wait to start and see just how high the team can reach in a league full of excellent sides.
“There are some really outstanding teams in this league, there are some really outstanding players,” he said. “It’s so competitive, probably the most competitive it’s ever been.
“That was a pulling factor to come here - the chance to go and compete, go toe-to-toe with some strong teams and be the best.”
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