FRESH START, NEW SEASON

Another close season is over in what feels like a blink of an eye and a lot of work has been ongoing within this preparing and building the club for the future.

Last season was very disappointing for everyone at Keith FC, finishing 4th bottom but we all must keep working hard, look to the future and I know that the season ahead will be different.

The Management have been working hard during the closed season to freshen up the squad and we are delighted to have secured the following new players Marc Young, Jamie McAllister, Wayne Barron, Greg Simpson, Craig MacAskill and to have resigned Michael Selfridge who joined us later last season. Dean would also still like to add a Centre Half to the squad and is working hard to find the right player.

During last season we investigated the current youth set up we had and felt this needed a major overhaul, which has taken place with us entering an under 17s team into the SHYFL and starting a youth system in Keith working with Keith & District Sports Development to enable a pathway for the kids in Keith to progress and develop. We have entered an under 13s team into the East section of the Moray Firth Youth League (MFYL) and will be playing against Buckie Thistle, Elgin City, Forres Mechanics, Lossiemouth, Rothes and Strathspey Rovers. Since looking into the youth set up we have recruited ex Keith FC player and local businessman Dod Simmers to take the role as Head of Youth Development, and we have set up a separate youth committee to help progress and develop the youth structure.

We have been working hard behind the scenes securing sponsors, updating facilities and restructuring the club to help develop and move things forward. We have appointed David Brown as Chief Executive to help develop the club and to take some of the day to day running of the club away from myself, allowing me more time to look at the clubs future and to enhance our sponsorship packages and partners. We have also added to the board of Directors Michael Leslie, Mike has been at the club for 3 to 4 years as main sponsor before Raccortubi Norsk took this over last year. Mike is a well-known businessman in Aberdeen and brings a wealth of business knowledge and support to the boardroom table, and we hope to make more appointments moving forward.

We have also been in talks with Grant McWilliam about getting the supporters club up and running again and I am delighted that Grant agreed to take the role of Supporters Club Chairman and help get things going, Its very important to me that the supporters have a say in the way the club is being managed and by getting the supporters club active again will give them a voice within the boardroom and help bring the club, its sponsors, players and supporters together which in turn can only benefit Keith Football Club.

I intend to do several updates during the season and we are currently updating the website www.keithfc.com so we can interact with the supporters more.

I would like to finish by thanking everyone for the support and look forward to seeing you all at Kynoch Park this season.

Andy Troup
Chairman