November 20th 2023
NAIRN County Football Club are delighted to confirm the appointment of Stewart McInnes as our new Head of Youth Development. Stewart will be joined by Steven Bain, who takes on the role of Youth Treasurer as part of the club's revamp of its youth setup. Chairman Donald Matheson said: "We are delighted that Stewart has agreed to take on this post." "One of the things mentioned by our manager, Ronnie Sharp prior to him taking up his position was a need to overhaul the youth setup to give us a better chance of producing players for the first team." "Stewart came through the ranks himself during what was a golden age for our youth development alongside the likes of Wayne Mackintosh, Glenn Main, Gregg Main and Callum Donaldson under the leadership of Mike MacPherson and the coaching of Martin Bell and that is the sort of success rate Ronnie wants us to aim to achieve again." "Ronnie has his own ideas about how this can be achieved and after speaking with Stewart, I know that both of them are on the same page as to how they go about bringing more players through from the youth team into the first team." Stewart McInnes said: "The last player to progress from the youth setup to the first team prior to this season was Paul Macleod and he is 27 now. That needs to improve and we are already looking to put a structure in place to allow a more seamless transition for players from one age group team to another." "I have some great memories of playing in the youth teams at the club myself and played alongside many players who went on to play senior football be it in the first team at the club or in the juniors. I am looking forward to working alongside Ronnie and the youth coaches to try to achieve that again." He added: "I have decided to reduce to the players' fees for this season from £75 per player to £50. This is as a thank you to the players and their parents for sticking by the club through what has been a difficult summer for everyone. Letters will be going out to players at training containing all of the details on what the money will go towards and how the fees can be paid. It will also contain my contact details, so if you have any queries, please get in touch." Graeme Macleod
