Boss Talk

20/07/08

Lee Cruickshank has signed after impressing in our friendly with Edinburgh City yesterday. Lee played with successful amateur side Uphall Station last season and has been training with us since pre-season training started.

17/07/08

I am pleased to confirm we have tonight signed midfielder Stephen Payne from last seasons Premier League championship winning side Bo'ness United.

15/07/08

I am pleased to confirm ex Pumpherston player Michael Farquhar has signed with us. A right sided defender or midfielder MIchael has been training with us since the start of pre-season training.

12/07/08

Some more good news. We have signed ex Bo'ness and Armadale player John Black. John can play in numerous defensive and midfield positions and also brings good additional experience to the squad.

10/07/08

Following friendlies confirmed.

We will play Coupar Angus on Saturday 19th July and Oakley on Saturday 26th July, both at Albyn Park. ko 2:30pm.

06/07/08

A challenging couple of weeks have passed since the last update.

I lost the race to sign two players, with both players opting to sign with clubs in higher divisions. When trying to add the right type of player to the squad its inevitable we will be competing for their signature with other clubs, some of them from higher divisions and this can prove difficult for us. This said, like all clubs at all levels, you rarely get every player you target signed and we move on.

It is also with disappointment that I have agreed to releasing Graham Baird to join a Superleague club, my disappointment purely being the loss of his services. Graham approached me to inform me of their interest and kept me informed throughout his talks with them and was very professional in his approach to the position he found himself in, something I was appreciative off. Having not even trained with us yet and having cost the club nothing financially, it would have been wrong of me to hold him back and not to give him his wish of trying his hand in the Superleague. I wish him the best of luck.

On a more positive note I am hoping to sign a new player tomorrow as we return for the start of pre-season training and talks are continuing with several others.

22/6/08

I am pleased to confirm my first signings outwith the current squad resignings are Alan Dickov and Graham Baird. Alan brings a great deal of experience to the squad, having played juniors for many years. Graham, a relatively young player, is a great prospect and I look forward to working with them both during the coming season.

18/6/2008

I met with Stewart Ritchie tonight and am delighted to confirm he has signed with the club for next season

16/6/2008

I have spoken with the players below and can now confirm the following:

Davie Woods has been freed from his contract with the club and I wish Davie all the best for the future. Brian Halliday has decided he would like a fresh challenge and will be playing his football elsewhere next season. Again, I wish Sid all the best.

I am delighted to let you know having met with Barry Craig tonight he has re-signed for the club for next season.

I hope to be able to bring you more news surrounding others later in the week, and can then start looking from next week to sign other players to further strengthen the squad.

The players will report back for pre-season training on Monday 7th July. Plans are underway to arrange our pre-season friendlies and I will give you further details on these as they are finalised.

08/06/2008

AGM

Good to meet some new faces today and hopefully I can meet many more in the not too distant future.

As announced at the AGM this morning, I have appointed a goalkeeping coach and two assistant coaches. My goal keeping coach is Steph McCafferty who played junior football for many years at various clubs including Fauldhouse, Shotts and Forth. He was also goal keeping coach at both Livingston and Fauldhouse. My two assistant coaches are Scott Hudson and Bruce Clouston. Scott played senior with both Stenhousemuir and Cowdenbeath and had spells at various junior clubs including Forth and Pumpherston. Bruce played senior at Hamilton and Arbroath before having a long successful spell with Whitburn Juniors. Laterally he of course played at Broxburn. I spoke with them all individually over the last couple of weeks, outlining my plans to them and the coaching structure I wanted to put in place. I am delighted all three wanted to be part of this and of the club going forward and all share the same ambitions as me, and you of course. I arranged for us to meet collectively for the 1st time on Friday, and spent a couple of hours outling my thoughts, the changes I will be making with their assistance and my plans for the season ahead, and hopefully beyond, and listening to their respective views, all of which I value greatly. Needless to say each has a To-Do List already! It is clear to me all three are hugely dedicated, motivated, ambitious and want the best for the club. Each is different in personality, each will bring their own qualities and views (which helps obtain a good balance) but all are united in having a winning mentality.

I also shared with them my signing targets, which they added to, and hope to be able to bring some goods news on this front come another couple of weeks when we can actually start speaking to these targets.

My thanks too to my club captain Callum Rarity. Callum took the time to attend the AGM this morning also, representing the players, despite us both being a bit tender from attending Johnny Wilson's wedding reception last night! This gave him a better insight as to just how much hard work is done in the background to run the club and the effort that goes in to look after, and support them, as players. This also demonstrated players committment to the club and gave the players a forum to express their views and their ambitions. He also came to my rescue this morning when both my mobile, then my car, decided to pack in en-route to the meeting.

On the playing front the only unsigned players from the current squad are Gavin McCann, David Woods, Barry Craig, Stewart Ritchie and Brian Halliday. Conversations will continue with these guys and I will let you know about the outcome of these conversations in due course.

Alan

05/06/2008

Tonight we have resigned goalkeeper Andrew Sheridan. "Doc" was with us at the beginning of last season and kept 3 clean sheets in a row during our promising start to last season's league campaign. I met with him earlier this week and fully discussed the reasons behind him leaving the club during last season. These are in the past now and we look forward. An experienced keeper he returns fully committed to the challenge ahead and I am pleased to have secured his signature.

31/05/08

A quick update for you.

I am due to speak with some of the unsigned players over the course of the next week and hope I am able to give you some positive news on this front soon.

With regards to my backroom staff, I have now spoken with a number of candidates and have another couple I wish to speak with before contemplating any final decision. Again, I will update you on this once this is finalised and the appointments are in place with the club.

I will of course be attending the agm next week, and will hopefully meet some more of you then.

25/05/2008

Welcome to my first official communication on the site. The purpose of these are to provide you with some updates, plans, reactions, reviews and no doubt lots of other things through time from my perspective and I hope these communications prove informative for you.

 

It was a bitter sweet moment for me to take the manager’s role after Jamie left. There are a few stories flying around about the circumstances surrounding this and there will probably be a few more. I had never hid my feelings that one day I would like to take an opportunity to try my hand at being a manager myself and had spoken openly about this to many people, including Jamie. The bitter piece was the fact the club had parted company with Jamie, whom I had known through football for a few years. We were both at Bathgate as players and he had signed me as a player for Broxburn and subsequently asked me to help him on the coaching side. The sweet piece was being offered the chance. After speaking with Jamie and parting company with him the club approached me to offer me the position. Both the club and I spoke at length and after thinking it through I was delighted to accept their offer. Members of the committee and I spoke openly and candidly with the players at the first training session after this and all of the players were also given the opportunity to speak openly to us. The conclusion to this was, whilst some opinions varied, it was now part of the club’s history, we all had to move on and that I wanted to build for next season around the majority of the squad I currently had.

The vast vast majority of reactions since I was appointed have been positive and very supportive, and I have received numerous calls, including a few from individuals associated with the club, officially from yesteryear and supporters, offering their congratulations and support. Thank you for these.

It’s been a positive end to the season for the team. We were unbeaten over 90 minutes in our last 7 games, drawing 2 and winning 5. The players attitudes and work rate has been 1st class during this spell and this showed itself in their performances. Particularly pleasing was taking 16 points from 18 in our last 6 league games, unfortunately this level of consistency was lacking at times through the season and this is something we will work hard on to remedy. We have played some good stuff during the last few weeks and this is something to try and build on.

I am delighted at securing the re-signing of most of the current squad within the first two weeks of taking over. We also managed to add Neil Porteous, who played at Brightons AFC and as a trialist on a few occasions for us during the season, to the squad during this time. Only Gavin McCann, Barry Craig, Stewart Ritchie, David Woods, and Brian Halliday are not re-signed currently. I have spoken with each of them and will continue to do so to reach a conclusion with them over the next few weeks. The circumstances surrounding each of them are different and I hope to be able to provide updates on these in the near future.

I have also started drawing up a list of signing targets to strengthen the squad overall and I will be discussing this with the committee over the next few weeks also. I will keep you updated on progress on these also but with players from other clubs not able to be signed until into June we will all have to be patient on this front.

Finally, my work is underway to appoint coaches to assist me with the challenge ahead, with the priority being an Assistant Manager and a goalkeeping coach. Again, I hope to be able to update you on these in the near future.

In the meantime, enjoy the close season and talk to you soon

Alan