July 15th 2024
NAIRN County have secured the signature of highly-rated teenager, Max Ewan. The 16-year-old Nairn Academy pupil made his debut for the club in the weekend friendly against St Mirren and comes to Station Park having been released by Inverness CT following their relegation. The attacker had been with Inverness CT since the age of 10 and featured in their under-20s team last year despite still being young enough to play under-17s football. Nairn under-20s head coach, Stuart Finnie, said: "Good players from Nairn are always on our radar regardless of where they play their football, so Max is obviously someone we have known about for a while." "This has been months in the making with myself and our Director of Football, Graeme Macleod finding out about Max's situation at Inverness CT, speaking to people in football who have worked with him and finding out about his character to determine if he would be a good fit here. I spoke to Duncan Shearer about him when Duncan was still at Inverness CT and he spoke well of him." "Obviously, Inverness CT were then relegated and that opened the door for us as they have had to scrap their under-20s squad and Max is now too old to play at under-17s level." "Yes, being from Nairn is a bonus but it is not the be all and end all – you have to have ability and the right attitude to be involved here and we are certainly confident that Max has that." He added: "We brought him in to train with us with a view to him joining our under-20s squad but he has caught the eye of Ronnie Sharp (manager) right away and he will be up training with the first team this week and going forward. I have enjoyed working with Max over the last few weeks but I think the fans are going to become familiar with seeing him play on a Saturday as opposed to him being with us in the under-20s sooner rather than later." Manager Ronnie Sharp said: "Max has been in with the first team for a couple of sessions now and he has not looked out of place – far from it." "The players have all taken to him really well and hopefully he has enjoyed himself at training and being involved in the squad for the game on Sunday." "We will be patient with him because it is easy to forget that he is still only 16 years old. He is a strong boy for his age and a talented player. He has had a good grounding at Inverness CT and I think he has the potential to really kick-on here with us and become a top player for the club." "As with the rest of the young players at the club, he will get the opportunity if he shows the right attitude and ability and I am looking forward to seeing him progress over the course of the season." Ewan becomes County's fourth signing of the summer following the arrivals of Adam Porritt, Adam Naismith and Ewen Urquhart. Graeme Macleod
