July 15th 2024
NAIRN County has appointed a new under-17s coaching team. Mark Greig takes over as Head Coach and he will be assisted by Max Campbell. Both arrive at the club having previously worked at Ross County. Nairn County Head of Youth Development, Stewart McInnes, said: "I am delighted that Mark and Max have agreed to join us as our new under-17s coaching team." "Mark has completed all of the Level 1 Courses on both the SFA Children's and Adult's Coaching Pathways and has also done all but one of the SFA Children's Award units. He is waiting to go forward to complete his C Licence soon and he previously worked in the coaching of primary school aged players at Ross County." "Max has already completed his C Licence and also has a degree in sports coaching and fitness training. He works as a personal trainer having previously been involved in coaching at Ross County." "Both Mark and Max area looking forward to the challenge of coaching the group of players in our under-17s squad. It is an important stage in a player's development between the ages of 15 and 17 where they will begin to develop their game awareness and ability to fit into different tactical systems to prepare them for moving up to the under-20s squad, which is just below the first team, while at the same time, continuing to improve their skills and techniques with the ball that they have been working hard on during their time in the under-15s." He added: "I am excited to see the development of the players under Mark and Max's coaching and to be working alongside them. It is great for the club to be able to attract coaches of such calibre to our youth setup." "We met with Mark a few weeks ago. He buys into what the club is looking to achieve with our youth development programme, where the emphasis is now on preparing players as best we can for first team football. He sees it as an opportunity for himself to develop and told me that seeing young players now being given a fair chance in the first team was one of the job's main attractions." "Mark has then been able to bring Max in alongside him, which is a great boost for the club too. I feel we have a strong coaching team who bring different strengths to the table and will be able to coach and educate the players not just as footballers but about the values of healthy living and a good diet." Greig and Campbell come in at a time when one of the club's under-15s coaches from last year confirmed his departure. McInnes revealed: "Barrie McDonald will no longer be with us next season." "Barrie came in alongside Craig Walker and they both did some great work with our under-15s squad last season. The boys learned a lot from both of them and everyone enjoyed their training. One of their players, Kyle Grimm, has now moved on to Ross County and we wish him well." "Craig stood down at the end of last season because of increased work commitments in the car sales industry and Barrie is also due to become a father again, so felt it was the right time to stand aside as well as he is also busy with his work in the car sales industry too." "It is easy to overlook from the outside the commitment that is required to coach youth team players with training twice-a-week and games on a Sunday, so I would like to thank Barrie and all of the other coaches who have moved on this summer for all of their hard work for the club and the amount of their own free time they have given up to help the players." He concluded: "I would also like to place on record our thanks to everyone who applied for the vacant position and to wish you all well with your future coaching careers." The under-17s and under-15s commence their pre-season training this evening. Pre-season friendlies will be announced once all are finalised. Graeme Macleod
