The board is pleased to confirm two new roles at the club for existing personnel.
Tom McStravick will become our new Sporting Director, leading all the football operations at the club, from Juniors through Academy to the First Team.
He will appoint a new first team coach soon and will retain full first team responsibility until a new appointment is confirmed and contract details are agreed.
Tom will also continue to lead our community relations work and will be fully involved with player recruitment along with the new coach. He is in the process of successfully negotiating and increasing our Academy numbers and income for next year and is discussing immediate player acquisitions to strengthen our playing squad.
Calum Cullen will become our Commercial Director and will be responsible for continuing the improvement of our financial position as a football club and for running the stadium operations.
He will retain his club secretary duties and expand the scope of the role.
We have today accepted Martin Knight’s decision to step down as Director of Football. We thank him for leading player negotiations for the club over his time at BPA and acting at no cost to the club.
His experience, budget control and mentoring has been very helpful to Tom and Calum both of whom were recruited by Martin.
Our prime objective is to improve our current performances and our league position and to use our available funds to recruit wisely.
For those of you who don’t know Tom, he has established successful coaching schools in Northern Ireland, has worked in various development roles at Leeds Utd, has a UEFA A Licence and has set up our successful Junior and Academy plans over the last three years.
He will provide effective, local leadership on all footballing matters and, along with Calum, is keen to ensure greater engagement with fans, families, and sponsors of the club at every level. Both are acutely aware that we need to retain the current league status and to aim for a return to NLN so that loan moves can attract top quality players.
Calum is keen to help Tom build on this with the start of a new Volunteer Group to help around the stadium and is keen to re-engage fans and interested parties.
Between them they will provide local leadership and they will report directly to board members on a weekly basis.
The board has asked Tom and Calum to set up a fans’ forum/meeting with themselves as soon as possible and to create regular feedback meetings to explain new decisions they are planning or have made.
The aim is for them to create local information and contact with fans which is more accessible to all supporters.
Both have e mail addresses and are happy to provide sensible feedback to sensible questions whenever possible. If you feel you can help, please contact them on: