The Joy of Six
.jpg)
John Brown spoke to www.clydefc.co.uk this afternoon to reflect on securing the services of six more players in the last 24 hours:-
“When I came into the club I felt that we didn’t have a lot of flair in the final third or much creativity from the wide areas. People like Willie McLaren, Alan Trouten and Ricky Waddell will give us that.
“I want us to play attractive football and if that doesn’t happen in a particular match then we’ll still be a hungry team that doesn’t give up.
“Both McLaren and Waddell also give us options on the left and give the squad a bit of balance that was lacking.”
On McLaren, the Clyde boss talked further:-
“Willie is only 23 but he has good match experience already. He impressed me when he was with us on trial recently.
“I know all about his reputation but we’ve all got baggage! On ability he will do a job for us. He’s been fine while he’s been here and he’s worked hard on his fitness. If this is his last chance then it’s a great opportunity for him to prove people wrong.
“Everyone has their own character and players mature at different times. He’s been on bigger money but now he is on the minimum and he has to prove himself again.”
It was also clear to see why John felt that Marc McCusker deserved a two-year contract, despite only making three substitute appearances in his loan spell at Broadwood:-
“Marc is as brave as a lion. He’s a young boy who wants to do well and he gives everything. He scored a lot of goals in the Hearts youth system and he has a desire to work hard.
“He’s raw and there’s work to do on him but I’ll take his sort any day as he’ll put his body in where it hurts for you.”
To conclude, John commented on Billy Gibson and Marvyn Wilson and confirmed that the work would not abate:-
“Billy is extremely versatile and, as we saw in the play-off matches, can fill in at centre-half if need be. He’s the type of character I want in my squad and the same can be said of Marvyn, who brings tremendous experience to the dressing room.
“We’ve still got some out of contract players to talk with further but that will happen in the next week or so. We’ve already got a couple of trialists lined-up for the pre-season so we can have a look at them, including one from Germany through Jorg Albertz.”
In other news, John announced that the majority of last season’s under-19 squad have been released. Only Stephen Connolly and Jordan Murch – previously reported as signing one-year deals – have been retained. He said:-
“I just felt that, considering most were in their final year at under-19 level, they had no hope of playing in the first team and I have to prioritise.”