December 9th 2024
We are delighted to unveil Alasdair Gillies as a Nairn County player this evening.
The talented midfielder has joined us on a deal until 2025 from Clachnacuddin and goes straight into the squad for our Team Hamish fundraising home match against Huntly tomorrow afternoon.
Ali is 20 years old and started his career as a youth at Ross County. He made the move to Grant Street Park almost six years ago and began making immediate progress, earning promotion to the first team squad and being handed his Highland League debut by our First Team Coach, Brian Macleod, in his time as Clachnacuddin manager.
Ali soon came to prominence and netted a derby winner against us in a 3-2 home win for Clach in December 2018. Since then, he has established himself as one of the Lilywhites’ top performers and one of the hottest prospects in Highland League football, seeing his talents recognised by being named vice-captain at Grant Street this season despite his tender years.
We are all thrilled that Ali has chosen to further his career at Nairn County and we all look forward to welcoming him to Station Park. Manager Steven Mackay added: “Ali is a player that I have admired for some time now and I am delighted that we have been able to secure his signature despite some fierce competition from other clubs.
“He is only 20 years old but has played a lot of games in the Highland League and I believe he has all the attributes to be the complete midfielder. I am looking forward to working with him and watching him develop at our club.
“I would like to thank Scott Dowling and Clach for making the process as seamless as possible to enable Ali to join us.”
Director of Football, Graeme Macleod said: “Ali had several other offers from across the Highland League, so we are naturally delighted that he has opted to come to us.
“We had already secured Ali on a pre-contract agreement for next season after positive meetings with our Management Team but we felt it would give Ali the best opportunity to show what he can do from the start of next season and increase our chances of finishing further up the league table this season if we were able to bring him to the club immediately. We have now done that and I am really thankful to our Management Committee for backing us on that.
“Ali is going to be a huge asset to this club and it is a ringing endorsement of what Steven and the team are looking to achieve that he feels this is the best place to come and play his football despite the other opportunities which were presented to him.
“These are the sorts of players we are looking to attract to the club to further strengthen what is already a talented squad at Steven’s disposal. We have ambitions and targets of where we want to be and when and we all believe that Ali can play a massive part in getting us there.”
Image by Kenny Macleod Photography.
