Club Statement from the Board – New Manager Recruitment
As intimated in our last statement, this statement is to provide an update on the recruitment for a new manager.
The basic terms for the process are detailed in the Working Together Agreement agreed between the Club and its owners, the Stirling Albion Supporters’ Trust. Clause 6.2 says:
“The selection of a candidate to be the new first team manager for the Club will be undertaken by a committee of four some of whom who may or may not be directors of the Club and may be specialists in football management recruitment. The make-up of the committee and subsequently the selected candidate shall be ratified firstly by the Board and then by the Trust Board.”
To that end, the selection process will be carried out by Club Chairman Alasdair Dunn, Club Director Robert Clubb, Football Operations Support Andy Kennedy and Jimmy Bone. We are delighted to have secured the assistance of Jimmy Bone. Jimmy is a Stirling local and, after an extensive and successful playing career, enjoyed a 20 year career in management, a highlight of which was winning the Scottish Cup with St Mirren as assistant to Albion legend Alex Smith. Following this Jimmy worked at the SFA, assessing coaches for their licences. He has extensive knowledge of coaches, is exceptionally well connected in Scottish football and is completely in tune with where we are trying to take the club.
Some (stressing some, not all) of the key criteria we are looking for in a new manager are:
- Strong leadership skills and dressing room persona, able to develop a strong and positive club culture with players;
- Able to bridge the role between team management responsibilities and operating in alignment with the football club board;
- Able to develop and contribute to relationships and communication across the administrative, commercial and football elements of the club;
- A track record of management success;
- Demonstrable experience of and commitment to working with youth development personnel;
- Clear commitment to increasing youth player representation in the 1st
We will be making other changes to the structure of the football operations to ensure the football side of the club is set up for the future. Further announcements will be made in due course.
At the start of season 22/23, following the Rangers Cup game and contributions due to covid, the club had £440k in the bank. Having invested in a more expensive management team and playing squad in what became a successful attempt to gain promotion from League 2, the club made a financial loss of c. £180k in that season. The club will make a loss for season 23/24 too – much reduced from that level but still a loss. This situation is clearly unsustainable and significant changes have been and continue to be made to put the club on a sustainable footing for the future.
We are working hard to increase the income line too and are confident of bringing new sponsorship on board. Longer term plans to increase income significantly are in progress too but will take time to come to fruition.
We are excited about this new chapter in Stirling Albion’s history and will provide further updates soon.
Alasdair Dunn, Chair
Robert Clubb, Director
Jim McAllister, Director
The board of directors of Stirling Albion Football Club
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