St Mirren FC has announced two significant appointments as the club takes direct action to strengthen its approach to Covid-19 and Quality measures.
Following a number of positive cases which have resulted in the postponement of two SPFL fixtures, the club has appointed former Scottish Police Federation chairman Brian Docherty as its first safeguarding and quality manager, and has also retained one of the country’s foremost risk management experts, Dr Kevin Pollock, to review and enhance the club’s internal processes.
Club chief executive Tony Fitzpatrick said: “The postponement of our two games following positive tests amongst playing staff was disappointing. Everyone associated with the club has a paramount duty to do whatever it takes to make sure we absolutely minimize the risk of any infection.
"That’s why we have appointed Brian and Kevin, both of whom have close and longstanding links to the club, to help us tackle this continued very real risk to society and our club."
Brian is well known to the club, having joined St Mirren as a schoolboy, making a scoring first team debut at 17. After three seasons, he made the move to Arbroath as their club captain, following which he joined Strathclyde Police in 1983, taking up the position of chairman of the Strathclyde Police Federation in 2010.
In 2012 he was appointed Chairman of the Scottish Police Federation where he held responsibility for the terms and conditions of approximately 17,500 officers. Brian contributed to the development and implementation of Police Scotland’s new protocols. He has worked at a UK level and held responsibility for investigating the planning of major events with policing involvement and chaired UK wide meetings to develop strategy and implementation of policy. He has contributed to the work of the European Policing Organisation, Eurocop, assessing issues impacting on UK and European policing, ensuring overall compliance with health and safety, employment law and employment and diversity protocols. Brian brings a wealth of knowledge to the club in areas such as policy management and stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, crisis communication and crisis management.
Lifelong St Mirren Fan Dr Kevin Pollock is one of the UK’s foremost experts in the fields of risk management and business continuity, with extensive experience in managing challenging incidents and joins the club in a consultancy role to review and enhance its processes in helping to address Covid-19.
He has designed, implemented, and embedded successful organisational resilience programmes incorporating risk, crisis, and business continuity and was commissioned by the UK Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat to research lessons from UK emergencies and major incidents. He is an independent consultant at Pollock Ferguson Resilience and an Academic Fellow at the UK Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College.
Kevin has also lectured at Glasgow Caledonian University and was Assistant Professor of Policing and Security, Rabdan Academy, UAE.
Tony added: "These two senior appointments significantly strengthen the infrastructure within the club and will enhance our capabilities. Every single member of staff at the club, at all levels, knows that our approach to this challenge has to be as professional and robust as possible. We are committed to leaving no stone unturned and look forward to the contribution both Brian and Kevin will make."
