More than 4,000 miles from his native Dundee, Kurt Herd is flying the flag for Scotland in international football. The 34-year old is manager of Dominica, the Carribbean island, making him the only Scottish manager currently leading an international men's side. "I'll be calling my mum and dad with that one," Herd laughs.
Appointed permanently in August after a short-term stint, Herd's role is not exactly like the one held by Steve Clarke, or his successor, Sebastien Pocognoli, though. Herd is not just Dominica's manager but effectively their analyst, scout, nutritionist, and yoga instructor rolled into one, given he is the only full-time staff member for the team. "A real whirlwind the last few weeks, but it's been amazing for me as a coach to go and test myself," Herd tells BBC Scotland.
"It's been the toughest but the greatest three or four weeks of my career so far." At 34, Herd has already packed a lot in. The former Dundee United academy coach has worked in Sweden, Australia, Malaysia and Kyrgysztan. He has met Arsene Wenger and other big football figures along the way and now his task is to improve the world's 182nd-best side, made up of largely amateur players from an island population of about 65,000.
Will Pocognoli change goalkeeper after Swiss loss? New coach, new players, but same old failings hamper Scotland Hampden debut to forget, but Pocognoli looks at bigger picture Most of Dominica's players play in their own domestic league, which Herd roughly equates to League 2 in Scotland. While other Carribbean nations like Haiti and Curacao have made use of a lot overseas players to help them reach the World Cup, rules in Dominica limit them to having six.
A rule change in January will allow Herd to start at least start recruiting players with Dominican grandparents. Former St Mirren and Livingston goalkeeper Shamal George, now at Bromley, is one Herd has been able to identify through social media and the use of talent-spotters. "I sit on Instagram for two or three hours and I'm just looking at player profiles, trying to see if somebody's got a little Dominica flag in that bio page," Herd says.
"I'm on the phone constantly. Whether that's scrolling social media - and it's not for fun - it's because I'm looking at players' profiles and databases. "I've got people that are doing that for me as well.
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