Wick Academy player-manager Gary Manson has revealed he is looking to make a number of changes on and off the park this summer to improve their fortunes next season.
The Scorries finished the campaign in 16th with a total of 26 points, their lowest haul for a completed term since 2005-06 when they finished 12th with 25 points in what was then a 15-team division.
After a decent first half of the season, which included a run to the third round of the Scottish Cup, things tailed off for the Caithness outfit and they went 13 games without a win between January and earlier this month.
In recent weeks, Wick have been down to the bare bones in terms of selection options and have had to rely on trialists to bolster their squad.
Going forward Manson wants to be in a position where they aren’t losing players to the popular local amateur scene.
He said: “We’re looking to get more players signed up on professional contracts.
“The amateur scene up here is a big thing and we’ve got players who are signed on amateur forms, rather than professional contracts.
“At this time of year, there’s a deadline for them to be signed to amateur teams so they can play in the Highland Amateur Cup.
“That means we have to release them, and once we release them, they can’t play for us as trialists.
“So that’s why the last two or three weeks of the season we’ve been scratching around for trialists, because we had to release seven or eight guys we had on amateur forms.
“We’re looking to get away from that (players leaving to take part in amateur competition) next season, because it’s a headache for me, a headache for the club secretary and everyone concerned really.
“It’s not a professional way to run a squad really, so we’ll be looking to have a squad of 20 to 23 contracted players for next season.”
Ability and availability struggles
Manson is already on look-out for new recruits and hopes to have around 10 players joining Wick for pre-season to be assessed.
But given the lengthy journeys the Scorries have to make for the majority of away fixtures, adding new faces who can commit to the club can be a challenge.
Manson added: “First and foremost players we look to bring in need to be good enough to handle the level, but as I’ve learned doing this job you have to look at a lot of other factors.
“If I’m looking at things ability is the first thing, but then availability is a close second and then you go into character and things like that.
“It’s not as simple as: ‘Who’s the best player in the area? We’ll go and get him.’”
‘It would have been easy to throw the towel in’
Manson is Wick’s record appearance holder having racked up 699 games.
He took on the job of player-manager on a permanent basis in July 2020 and admits during their winless run this season it might have been easy to quit, with the 10-0 loss to Brechin City on March 25 a particular low point.
However, a determination to improve things has kept him at Harmsworth Park.
He said: “I think after a couple of the results we had it would have been easy for me to throw in the towel.
“Some people might have had said: ‘I’ve had enough’, and chucked it. Maybe some of the fans might have wanted me to do that.
“The Brechin game was extremely hard to take and during that period there was a lot of self-reflection.
“I felt like, if I left, I would be leaving the club in a worse position than when I took the job, which didn’t sit right with me.
“I’ll be raring to go in pre-season and hopefully we should have a bigger, stronger squad than this season, which will allow us to push on.
“I didn’t sign up for finishing 16th – it’s not what I sold to the players when I took the job and it’s not what I’m going to be settling for.”
Optimism
Manson has also held discussions with Wick’s committee about the club’s future direction and as a result is upbeat when he looks towards next season.
He said: “I had a meeting last week with some of the guys on the committee and it was very positive.
“I put my points across on what I want to happen and how I think things should run. They took it on board and agreed with what I said.
“There are things which go on behind the scenes that not everyone sees or appreciates.
“But moving forward I’m optimistic that on and off the park things will run a bit more smoothly next season.”
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