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| Managers Thought's
I would firstly like to apologise for the delay in posting this update as i am sure you have all been eager to find out the latest goings on at Beechwood Park over the last few months.
Most importantly I would like to clarify the slight change in the management set-up. At the start of September 09, Grant announced that he was standing down as manager due to work & family commitments. On the back of this announcement I decided to take over as manager and Myles decided that he was going to leave the Club to resume his playing career with Burntisland Shipyard. My first game in charge couldn't have been much harder, away to Broxburn in the 1st League game of the season and with only 12 fit players, it began to look like mission impossible. All credit to the players though as they battled out an entertaining 3-3 draw, coming back from 3-1 down with only 10 minutes left on the clock. A great result!
An even better result was to follow when I spoke to Grant later on and he confessed that he had really missed being on the touchline at the game and we discussed the possibility of him coming back with us running the team as Co-Managers. To me this was a no-brainer and after a few days discussing the situation, the 'new' Co-Management Team was unveiled to the players at training during the week. I am delighted that Grant had a change of heart and we are both looking forward to the season ahead as we look to bring success & silverware back to Sauchie Juniors. Its certainly not going to be easy to win the league but we are confident enough in our own ability and that of the playing squad to achieve this.
Grant and I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of everyone at the Club to thank Myles for all his hard work & effort during the last 18 months and wish him all the best in the future.
So, moving on to the playing squad for 2009-10 season. There has been no fewer than 12 new faces brought in over the close season and we feel that the squad assembled is good enough to win the League this year. However, we are always looking to strengthen the squad and only within the last few weeks we have signed the brothers, Stevie & Ross Vinters, from Lochore Welfare. Ross is a defender who can play Right Back or Centre Half and will increase the competition in those areas whilst Stevie is a creative Centre Midfielder who was previously on the books of Dunfermline Athletic.
We have brought in 2 new goalkeepers for the season ahead. Aaron Gillespie was signed from Crossgates Primrose and will be a familiar face to some supporters as he played for Sauchie a few years back. Aaron has developed into one of the top goalkeepers in the junior game and we had to beat off stiff competition to secure his signature. Also signed is the experienced Davie Hardie who was a bit of an unknown quantity when we asked him along to provide cover for Aaron, who was injured at the time. He played excellent in his first match and he has shown in the games since that he is more than capable of challenging Aaron for the number 1 spot.
In Defence, we have signed Jon Tully from Bo'ness, Graeme King from Linlithgow and Ali Burns from Alloa Athletic. We were delighted to sign all three of these players as they are local lads and all come with an excellent pedigree. Jon is a no-nonsense defender and has invaluable Super League experience from his days at Bo'ness United. Graeme King is a player we have tracked for the last year and his early form at right back or centre half has been outstanding. Ali Burns featured for us at the end of last season after he was released by Alloa Athletic and done enough in those few games to convince us he had a future at Sauchie.
Along with recent signing Stevie Vinter, we have signed Karl Lejman, Seb Tinning and Adam Bonar to strengthen the midfield area. Karl is another familiar face to Sauchie supporters and re-joins the club following a spell at Crossgates Primrose. Seb Tinning is an exciting left sided player who impressed us whilst playing with Pumpherston last season and Adam Bonar will provide a real goal threat after signing from local amateur side, Tullibody, in late August 09. Another summer signing, Stuart Nicol, has unfortunately had to leave the Club due to work commitments and has re-signed for Strathmiglo.
Making up the trio of signings from Crossgates is hard-working striker Kris Myles. Kris featured in all five of our pre-season friendly games, scoring 6 goals in the process. He is currently getting back to match fitness after being on holiday in America for 3 weeks. We also signed Ali Griffin over the close season from Camelon Thistle amateurs. Ali had also played in a few games for us at the end of last season and am sure he will be looking to beat brother Iain in the goalscoring charts.
We are also fortunate to welcome back several players from long term injuries. Graham Crawford, Fraser Arnot and Derek Currie all missed large chunks of last season but are back playing now and doing well. Big Craw was in fine form in August scoring 5 goals in 5 games whilst Fraser has scored 3 goals in 4 games during the month of September.
Grant and I are really pleased with the start made to the season. We are unbeaten in the last 6 competetive games with 4 wins and 2 draws and whilst we are scoring plenty goals we know that we must tighten up defensively and stop leaking soft goals. Hopefully we can maintain this good form throughout October, a month which should see us play 4 league games & a Scottish Cup tie. We were fortunate to get a bye in the 1st round of the Scottish but will be looking forward to the draw for the 2nd round which is due to be played on Saturday 31st October.
I hope this update is enough information to keep you satisfied at the moment and will try and update the page on a regular basis to keep you in the loop.
I would finally like to take this chance to thank everyone involved with Sauchie Juniors for all your hard work and support. Hopefully we can repay you by winning the league this season.
Yours in Sport
Scott & Grant
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