The thoughts of club      manager John Coughlin

 

Hello, and welcome to Stenhousemuir supporters and readers of this website.I thought it was about time that I made a contribution to the site and will hopefully be able to keep you up to date with news of comings and goings around Ochilview during the pre- season period and the thoughts behind the decisions that I take. It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were ending the season on a high with our win up at Elgin, unfortunately we did not do enough over the Season to force our way into the play offs and that failure left me no alternative than to rout the squad and start again.

Craig Mcewan - Attacking Fullback

It is a tough call to make when deciding who stays and who goes, but I had to bear in mind that some of these players had served under three different managers in the last three seasons and had not taken the club forward. Some decisions are easier than others and a few can count themselves as unlucky, but it often benefits players to move if they are not regular starters in the team and I knew that there were players nearing the end of their contracts at other clubs who in my opinion would do a better job for us. Some were familiar to me, and the signings of Chris McGroarty, Iain Thomson, and Jordan Smith will not come as a surprise to many. McGroarty is as good an attacking full back as you will find in the lower leagues and I set my teams up with this in mind. Craig Mcewan has resigned for us and he also comes into that category. Thomson was Berwick’s player of the year last season and like Smith is Mister Dependable. There will be tough competition for places across the middle of the park and we will not be found wanting in that area.

 

Two new goalkeepers have been signed after John Hillcoat’s decision to take up a player coaching role at our friends from the ‘Shire, and Ally Brown’s decision to hang off and wait for a full time club, Kieron Renton from Raith Rovers and Scott Bennett from Edinburgh University. Anyone who has followed my career will know that I have been very lucky with signings from Junior and East of Scotland league clubs and we hope that that trend continues. The back line signings continued with the recruitment of tough centre half John Ovenstone from Forfar, again another player of the year at his club and he will give us the left footed centre half that we missed last year with the injury problems that Boab Mculloch suffered from. Young Gary Thom has come on leaps and bounds and will be competing for a starting place in defence and is surely one for the future. I expect a better season from Graham Gibson with a good pre season behind him and that goes for Steve Hampshire who became something of a forgotten man after missing so much of the season.

One of Gary Thom's Many Leaps!

After analysing our efforts to create chances I knew that I would have to make additions to the squad and Kevin Motion joins us from a very successful Spartans team. His delivery of set plays is excellent and that was another area that we were poor in last season. Our next signing, Andy Shirra, will be known to many of you locals. If any junior player deserves a chance in senior football then it is him. He has looked excellent in the short time that we have been back in training and looks determined to do well. We will adopt a slightly different system of play next season and getting goals from midfield was a major problem for us. I knew the player that I wanted and was lucky enough to have a Board of Directors who were prepared to back my judgment, this obviously resulted in the signing of Andy Brand from the Shire. Lots of clubs enquired and we had to fight off a bit of competition from others, but after meeting Andy, I knew that his ambitions were as strong as mine in trying to get this Club out of this division.

Dalziel Had A Start Last Season

Add these signings to the players who did well for me last year, Willie Lyle, Paul Tyrell, Captain Steve Ferguson, and Scott Dalziel and we are optimistic about our chances. There is more good news, the displays of Robert Love and Steve Desmond have resulted in promotion to the first team squad and they should be the catalyst for the rest of the young guys at the Club. The work done at youth level by Campbell Money and his coaches is only really noticed by outsiders when the breakthrough to first team is made, but we at the Club know how valuable it is.
 

Our latest addition will be known to many of you as he has been a constant problem for us as an Arbroath player playing against us and again we had to work hard to secure his services. Alan Brazil will help take the pressure of Scott Dalziel in front of goal and we expect big contribution from him. He may be the final piece of the jig saw, then again maybe not. As I stated earlier, the Board of Directors have done everything in their power to make funds available and there will be no excuses from me if things don’t go well.

Finally, I hope you share my optimism and get behind the new squad. We have been back training since the 17th June and we will be ready for the fight. I hope to be a regular contributor to the site and make sure that you are kept up to date with our squad building.

Lets look forward to a positive start to the season. From myself, Matt and the players, bye for now.

 

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