Four More Players Retained

The club is pleased to announce that four more players from the existing squad have signed a new contract ahead of the 2016-17 season.

Defender Chris Smith, midfielders Scott McLaughlin and JP McGovern and forward Jamie Watson have all agreed new deals.

Speaking to the official website this evening, Clyde manager Barry Ferguson commented on each of the four players that had put pen to paper:-

“Scotty and JP were important players to keep as they have experience in abundance, which we’ll need with some younger players coming in. They are both massive players for us in their own right and I’m delighted that they are staying on. We’re hoping that JP will have recovered from his injury early in the pre-season schedule and, all going well, he will be ready to go for the start of the season.

“You know what you’re going to get with Chris, week in, week out. He was one of our most consistent performers last season, but he can still improve and that’s something that we’ve spoken about together. I’m expecting even more from him and I want him to kick on and become a real leader within the group now.

“Jamie is still very raw and he admits that himself. He should me enough last season to prove that we can work with him and develop him. He came in halfway through last season which is always difficult, but he will now have a full pre-season with us and we’ll work with him closely. He can be a good player in the future, but he’s got a lot of hard work ahead.”

In addition to five new signings already announced, ten players have so far been retained from last season’s squad, including Scott Ferguson who signed a contract extension in March. Barry continued:-

“All of the players we’ve kept on have been easy to deal with and I think that shows that they enjoy what we’re doing and enjoy being at Clyde. In addition to being good players they are all good people and that’s also important. We want the right sort of guys in the dressing room, who will represent the club well in everything they do.

“One other player I can mention at the moment is Mark McLaughlin. He’s currently on holiday but I’ll be speaking to him next week when he returns. We want him to stay on and be involved with the squad, but we also want him to get involved in the coaching side at the club, so we need to discuss the details of that before we can finalise a deal. 

“JP McGovern is in a similar situation – I also want him to start getting involved in the coaching side and integrate that with playing.”

Barry concluded by stating that he was working hard to confirm more news over the weekend.