Club Statement

We appreciate that all the fans are looking forward to the new season ahead therefore we thought this an ideal time to bring everybody as up to date as possible.
 
PLAYING KIT
 
For a variety of reasons we have appointed new suppliers PROSTAR and will be releasing two new strips shortly. Barring a delivery delay, the new strips will be on display up north this weekend and the replicas will be available from the 24th July. No prizes for guessing the design of the home strip.
 
SHIRT SPONSOR
 
We are delighted to confirm that Pertemps have taken up their option to renew the contract for the third year and we would like to thank them for their continued support.
 
STADIUM
 
We are still finalising the arrangements with the new owners and we will not issue details until the deal is complete. We have had to review a lot of the details to take account of any possible groundshare arrangements which may or may not happen. These all take time and are legally complicated. We have been working on this for over 2 years now ,however we cannot legislate for changes outwith our control. i.e. transfer of ownership, possible groundshare etc. We will be playing here for a very long time therefore we owe future generations a proper duty of care.
 
NEW PLAYERS AND CONTINUITY
 
Last year we took the decision to have a lot of the players on two year deals to ensure that we were not in the situation of having to build an entire team again. This was done with one eye on promotion. We have now agreed contract extensions with various other players therefore our core squad is already in place.
 
The Management continue to work behind the scenes however we are looking for QUALITY to improve the squad. A lot of other teams have been signing a number of players but most of them are working on their core squads as a result of the amount of players that have left. We will not discuss our moves in public however the Fans will be the first to know when deals are completed.You can expect news very soon.
 
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
 
Last season we ran under 17s and 19s pro Youth. It has brought through players much quicker than anybody could have foreseen and a great deal of credit must go to Jimmy Boyle and Jim Frame and everybody else involved.
 
This year we will change slightly to go under 17 pro Youth and a full Reserve team. This will give us more flexibility re squad players' match fitness and players coming back from injury.
 
 We are also delighted to welcome Alan McManus and Stephen Docherty to the youth coaching set up. 
 
SUMMARY
 
The season ahead will be extremely difficult however we are all working very hard to ensure that we are in the strongest possible position to meet the challenge head on.
 
My philosophy remains the same. Yes, we won the Second Division title in only our second year and we had a fantastic party along the way. But from now on that is history and in the past. All that matters now is the First Division and I always look forwards, not backwards.
 
Here at Airdrie we love a challenge.

BRING IT ON