Kevin Rutkiewicz reflects on Arthurlie 'privilege' as he leaves after title success
The former Striling Albion boss joined the club in March and helped lead the Barrhead outfit to the First Division title in the West of Scotland League.
Kevin Rutkiewicz says it was a 'privilege' to be managing Arthurlie as he reflected on the club's West of Scotland League First Division (WoSFL) title triumph.
'Lie secured the silverware after drawing 2-2 with Petershill on Saturday, May 10, to bounce back to the top flight after last season's relegation.
Rutkiewicz joined the Barrhead outfit in March following Colin Reilly's departure but has now departed the club himself after securing the title with former St Johnstone, Dundee and Drumchapel United player William Dyer taking the helm.
Reilly had put 'Lie in a strong position to be promoted and Rutkiewicz took it to the next level with seven wins, two draws and only one defeat in 11 league games sealing their Premier return.
'The one thing you want out of the boys is just them to believe,' he told Arthurlie's social media channels. 'And they've done that. Obviously, the results help, the results have proved that and they've been outstanding.
'Where this team has won a league is character and attitude. That's why we've dug the result [against Petershill] out. It's not about ability or tactics. Toss that out the window.
'It's about character and digging in because we've only played particularly well. We've found a way and that's what good teams do.'
Rutkiewicz paid tribute to the efforts of Reilly and says some of the credit for the club's success has to go to the previous management team. When Reilly left, Arthurlie were in fifth place but had seven games in hand on then league leaders Renfrew.
Aaron Healy was also singled out for praise by his manager for playing though the pain barrier and producing the pivotal weekend equaliser. Rutkiewicz added: 'Although he's carrying an injury, he's mercurial. He can pop up.
"He can beat a man. He can finish a goal and he probably should have more goals, by the way. That's where I'll criticise him. But no, he's been a bit of a fan favourite. He's a local lad.
'He's got fantastic ability. But all that said, there's no Aaron Healy without a team here. The man beside me [Michael MacNeil] is every bit as important as is big [Sean] Docherty, as is Jordan Leyden, as is Ryan Sinclair and Mick McMullen and Marc Waters.
'And I can go on and on. You know where I'm going with this. But to save time I'll miss it!
'To the very last man and even the boys that come in – and they've maybe not played a lot of football – but make no mistake the impact they've had. It's been a good change on them and it's never changed. So, credit to what's happened before we got in. A brilliant squad.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
3 days ago
- Daily Record
East Kilbride YM join West of Scotland Fourth Division to set up derby with EK Thistle next term
The club now has opportunity to reach the professional ranks after being voted in at the WOSFL AGM Long-established Amateur side East Kilbride YM will make the step up to the West of Scotland Football League next season after being voted into the Fourth Division for the 2025/26 campaign. In a huge development for the Kirktonholme side, it means the town's oldest football club - formed in 1921 - are now part of the Scottish football pyramid system and have the opportunity to climb their way into the senior ranks in the future. The club were voted in at the West of Scotland Football League AGM this afternoon and their under-19 side will compete in the West of Scotland Development League. The news comes just weeks after East Kilbride FC won promotion to play in the senior ranks in SPFL League Two next season. And YM's inclusion in the West of Scotland Fourth Division next term also means they will play a derby with the town's other major side, East Kilbride Thistle, who finished seventh in that league last season. YM won the Caledonian Premier Division - the Scottish Amateur top flight in the region - this season and also reached the final of the West Cup, so this marks a huge step up but it is one boss Graeme Robertson believes the club are ready for. He said: "East Kilbride YM FC are delighted to announce that at this afternoon's West of Scotland Football League AGM we were voted into the WoSFL for this coming season. "This is a culmination of a lot of hard work behind the scenes by the YM Committee which now provides a player pathway from EKYC into EKYM and the opportunity to play in a Senior Professional League which is part of the SFA Pyramid System. "The very succesfull YM Under 19s, who were an excellent EKYC team prior to last season, will move to become the EKYM WoSFL Development team playing in a professional Development League. "This is a crucial part of the whole project as it is the YM's intention to promote players from within the club to the Professional Senior side in the WoSFL. "With several players in the Senior side having came through the YC Youth setup, it highlights the success of the partnership with our good friends at YC within EK United, a true Community Club. "I would just like to thank everyone from the YM and YC who played their part in making today happen."
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
Former Kilmarnock player tackling jungles and deserts to help daughter
The former midfielder has made his peace with the fact that his daughter will never date a boyfriend, never get married, never have children or find an escape from the 50 different symptoms associated with a debilitating illness. The one thing he can't accept is the impotence of sitting around, doing nothing. His solution is extreme in a very real sense. To raise money for the Reverse Rett charity, 56-year-old 'Mavis' completed the infamous Marathon des Sables over seven days of gruelling heat then finished third in the 230-kilometre Ultra Marathon in Peru last year. On Saturday he tackles the 104-mile Ultra Scotland event between Dalry and Melrose and while his fundraising efforts have contributed over £100k to the search for a cure, the benefits to his own state of mind have been equally undeniable. 'I always say to people that Dionne's condition has given me some unbelievable life experiences and made me realise what's important in life,' he tells Herald Sport. 'Ordinarily I would have never have done the events I've done. Subconsciously I think it also became a substitute for me for the loss of football as well. I played for 21 years and from the age of 22, I started to train every day as if I was contesting a World Cup final.' He retired from playing for St Mirren in 2006 and found coaching an unfulfilling experience. Managing two Subway stores in Coatbridge and Bellshill failed to fill the void left by professional football. In 2008 the credit crunch came along and swallowed up the profits. A neighbour flagged up a recruitment drive by Police Scotland and, after 15 years on the thin blue line, he accepted a role with a London-based charity supporting survivors of human trafficking. His work provides a constant reminder that everyone has their crosses to bear. 'Dionne was 11 months old and there was no sign of crawling or walking before she started refluxing and being sick 20 or 30 times a day,' he recalls of the period when he realised his daughter was ill. Regular visits to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow and Wishaw General failed to come up with a conclusive diagnosis. A breakthrough came, unexpectedly, during a family holiday in Florida when he googled neurologists and found one 30 minutes away. Costing £800, tests and blood samples came back showing that Dionne had a rare genetic neurological and developmental disorder which affects the way the brain develops. Primarily found in females Rett Syndrome causes a progressive loss of motor skills and language. Reverse Rett is a research organisation focussed on delivering treatment to sufferers. While they can do little for Dionne in the here and now, Reilly's quest for a future breakthrough has brought some startling and unexpected life experiences. 'Originally I started doing the events to raise awareness for the charity and for Dionne,' Reilly explains. 'But through that I discovered that I was getting something from it as well. 'You can never replace the adrenaline of playing on a Saturday, but the illness gave me a purpose and incentive to keep fit and healthy and switch from a team event to seeing how far I could push myself.' He began modestly with a Glasgow 10k in 2012 before moving on to the Three Peaks Challenge, spanning Ben Nevis, Scaffel Pike in the Lake District and Snowdon in Wales over the course of 24 hours. A formidable challenge to even the toughest of mortals, Reilly was convinced to go higher, harder. Read more: Malky Mackay on Hibs' £5m chance, training-ground plan and the Black Knights Stephen McGowan: Is Dermot Desmond absentee landlord or Celtic mastermind? Incorporating a 2.4-mile swim in open water, 112 miles on a bike, then a marathon, Iron Man events offered an immediate challenge. He couldn't swim and hadn't cycled since the age of 10. Signing up to a swimming club and purchasing an aluminium bike for £500, he completed two Iron Man events before setting his sights on the legendary Marathon des Sables, a 160-mile ultramarathon held every year in the Sahara Desert. 'There was a freak heatwave and the temperatures were almost 60 degrees centigrade every day,' he recalled. 'A French competitor died on day two and one of my tent mates suffered a cardiac arrest. He was dead for two minutes before they managed to bring him back.' Even a brutal test of endurance failed to tick off all the boxes on the bucket list to end them all. Last year he ran 230 kilometres through the Amazon Jungle in Peru and finished third. 'Prior to the year I did it, only 15 per cent of the competitors finished it,' Reilly explains. 'Day two we hit the jungle and day three was incredible. We went through a protected area where less than 50 westerners had ever ventured. 'One of the reasons for that is that they have a protected species of bat, with only six of them left on the planet. 'We stayed that night with a small indigenous tribe in the jungle. Only 12 people in the whole world spoke the tribe's language. You would put your hammock up and sleep dangling between a couple of trees.' His Just Giving efforts have now raised over £60,000. His autobiography and other initiatives bolster the tally to something in the region of £100k and on Saturday he plans to raise the tally a little more by completing 104 miles and four marathons on the Southern Upland Way between Dalry and Melrose in the Ultra Scotland race. It's a long way from his old, distant life as a professional footballer with Motherwell, Killie, St Johnstone and St Mirren. 'I was at Killie 11 years or so and I had my best memories at Rugby Park, winning the Scottish Cup. But I hardly watch any games on TV these days,' he says. Gathering dust in the attic, he gifted his Scottish Cup jersey and medal away to a diehard Kilmarnock fan and gave a Kaiserslautern jersey acquired after a UEFA Cup defeat in 1999 to a roofer working on his home. 'The experience and the memories sustain me more than souvenirs,' he explains. 'Going down John Finnie Street with the cup and seeing people happy is what I think of. 'Kilmarnock still ask me to do the in-house TV channel and the truth is that I barely know the players. I loved my career and gave it everything and I don't know if subconsciously this is just the way I cope with the loss of that, but I couldn't tell you the last live game I was at or the last 90 minutes I watched on TV. 'I love my boxing now and if you gave me the choice now of watching the Champions League final or a big title fight, I'd watch the boxing.' Mark Reilly will complete the Ultra Scotland race today (Saturday 7 June 2025). To support his fund-raising efforts for Rett Syndrome research visit
Daily Record
20-05-2025
- Daily Record
Kevin Rutkiewicz reflects on Arthurlie 'privilege' as he leaves after title success
The former Striling Albion boss joined the club in March and helped lead the Barrhead outfit to the First Division title in the West of Scotland League. Kevin Rutkiewicz says it was a 'privilege' to be managing Arthurlie as he reflected on the club's West of Scotland League First Division (WoSFL) title triumph. 'Lie secured the silverware after drawing 2-2 with Petershill on Saturday, May 10, to bounce back to the top flight after last season's relegation. Rutkiewicz joined the Barrhead outfit in March following Colin Reilly's departure but has now departed the club himself after securing the title with former St Johnstone, Dundee and Drumchapel United player William Dyer taking the helm. Reilly had put 'Lie in a strong position to be promoted and Rutkiewicz took it to the next level with seven wins, two draws and only one defeat in 11 league games sealing their Premier return. 'The one thing you want out of the boys is just them to believe,' he told Arthurlie's social media channels. 'And they've done that. Obviously, the results help, the results have proved that and they've been outstanding. 'Where this team has won a league is character and attitude. That's why we've dug the result [against Petershill] out. It's not about ability or tactics. Toss that out the window. 'It's about character and digging in because we've only played particularly well. We've found a way and that's what good teams do.' Rutkiewicz paid tribute to the efforts of Reilly and says some of the credit for the club's success has to go to the previous management team. When Reilly left, Arthurlie were in fifth place but had seven games in hand on then league leaders Renfrew. Aaron Healy was also singled out for praise by his manager for playing though the pain barrier and producing the pivotal weekend equaliser. Rutkiewicz added: 'Although he's carrying an injury, he's mercurial. He can pop up. "He can beat a man. He can finish a goal and he probably should have more goals, by the way. That's where I'll criticise him. But no, he's been a bit of a fan favourite. He's a local lad. 'He's got fantastic ability. But all that said, there's no Aaron Healy without a team here. The man beside me [Michael MacNeil] is every bit as important as is big [Sean] Docherty, as is Jordan Leyden, as is Ryan Sinclair and Mick McMullen and Marc Waters. 'And I can go on and on. You know where I'm going with this. But to save time I'll miss it! 'To the very last man and even the boys that come in – and they've maybe not played a lot of football – but make no mistake the impact they've had. It's been a good change on them and it's never changed. So, credit to what's happened before we got in. A brilliant squad.'
