Sharp & Annand Join Youth Setup

Director of football Neil Watt has moved to bring two new faces to the club’s youth structure.

Lee Sharp has been appointed as under-17s coach. He will assume responsibility from Tuesday, having already taken in the 17s first game of the season at home to East Fife. Lee is at the tail end of his playing career with Arthurlie Juniors having spent 15 years as a very dedicated and talented professional footballer with Dundee, Ayr Utd & Dumbarton. He was also a key player in Neil’s highly successful Stranraer team that won back-to-back promotions, taking them from the Third to the First Division. Lee has been working with youth squads of varying ages, most recently for Celtic, and also handling South Lanarkshire’s development squads.

Assisting Lee will be a well known face at Broadwood, Eddie Annand (pictured). Eddie enjoyed a fantastic two-yeal spell at Clyde in the mid-90s, scoring 42 goals from 64 matches. That form led to Dundee paying a considerable fee to take him to Dens Park in 1997, where he went on the make nearly 100 appearances.

Ian Currie has handled both the 17s and 19s since the beginning of pre-season. The club is very grateful to him for fulfilling both roles until such a time as Neil had considered the best way forward for the upper end of the Bully Wee’s academy. Neil and Ian have agreed that he should continue coaching the 19s and will work closely with John Brown, keeping him up to date with how the individuals in the team are progressing.
 
“Ian has admirably handled pre-season for two teams and I am very grateful to him for doing so,” Neil told www.clydefc.co.uk. “He has created quite an impression on our young players and it was important for me to take stock and establish where his talents could best be used for the benefit of the club.

“Ian has brought the 17s squad to this stage and now Lee and Eddie can step forward and put their own stamp on it.”

In related news, currently in the development stage is the introduction of a full youth section to the official website, featuring fixtures, results, pictures, news and more. Look out for its launch in the near future.