Go out and prove we belong in this league
Letham were a force in the Perthshire amateur league and now plan to impress in the juniors
Letham have not joined the junior ranks simply to make up the numbers.
That was the message from assistant manager Sean Whitworth as the Seven Acres side eye a winning debut in the Midlands League.
Letham, having moved up from the amateur scene, make the short trip to take on fellow Perthshire club Coupar Angus on Saturday.
“The entire squad is buzzing to get going tomorrow,” Whitworth told the PA.
“There has been a lot of hard work put in by players on the training field, committee behind the scenes and the management team to get the club in as good a position as it can be to get off to a good start.
“Ideally we would have liked a few more weeks to match a normal pre-season, given we only found out our fate about three weeks ago.
“But everyone who is part of the club should be proud of the hard work that they have done so far to get us to this position.
“The squad we have at Letham is as good a squad as any I have been involved in.
“And I have absolutely no doubts that we can go in and impress within this league.
“That being said, we are under no illusions about how big a step up that this is going to be, but we are all relishing the challenge.
“This season will be about establishing a foothold, learning about what it takes to compete at this level and then build upon that.
“We are not going into this league to be a number, we are an ambitious club and want to
Sean Whitworth, pictured in action during his time at Scone Thistle, is now assistant boss at Letham progress in every department.”
Letham proved a dominant force at Perthshire amateur level and have retained the majority of their squad for this new campaign, coupled with adding a few new faces.
“The entire squad has been fantastic throughout, I must say,” Whitworth continued.
“The squad we have is built around a core group of winners, who have been very successful throughout the last decade in the amateur ranks.
“We have added to that some players who have established themselves within the junior level and some youth players who are hungry to learn and progress.
“The new lads have been fantastic, showing the drive that is needed at this level and passing
on that experience amongst the squad.
“The squad is big but it is going to need to be this season while we still learn about COVID, which brings with it surprises every week.
“We are in a good place and there is plenty competition in all departments within the team.”
On the challenge presented by Coupar Angus, Whitworth, who previously played for Scone Thistle, added: “Coupar Angus away has always been a difficult fixture.
“They have had difficult seasons in the past, however, their intentions will match every other team who is going into a game on Saturday – wanting to win three points. They have made some recent signings bringing in some good players.
“They will be hard working, hungry and keen to get off to a flyer and it will be up to us to turn up and show what we can do.”
Coupar boss Lindsay Cruickshank has been pleased with the progress his side has been making through pre-season.
“We just want to do the best we can,” he said. “We’ve settled down now and aren’t far away from getting what we want.
“There are maybe a couple of positions we need to strengthen but we’re looking not too bad this year.
“Aspirations of being up the top of the league are maybe still out of grasp. But we want to improve.
“The boys are getting a wee bit of a buzz realising that there is a team here that can play football.
“It will be a hard game against Letham and that is all there is to it. They will surprise a few folk this year because they aren’t a bad side.”