Fort William announces new management team

FORT William Football Club has announced the appointment of a new management team.

Paul Maclellan, Alastair Macpherson and Ali Smith have taken over management and coaching roles and are looking to add to the team over the next few weeks, including adding an Inverness area-based coach.

The appointments follow the departure of Ally Ewen and Kevin Munro who left after the 4-1 North of Scotland Cup final defeat to Brora Rangers on Saturday. Ally and Kevin are to take up the manager and assistant manager’s roles at Lossiemouth.

Paul, Alistair and Ali have all played for Fort William and have extensive coaching experience, having more recently been coaching the under-17s at Fort William.

Stewart Maclean, director at Fort William Football Club, said: ‘ We are delighted the under-17s coaching team has stepped up to take on the responsibility of the senior side. Within hours of their appointment, their commitment and enthusiasm has been in evidence.’

Ali Smith said: ‘Paul and I are proud to be appointed as co-managers of Fort William Football Club and we are pleased that Alastair has accepted the appointment as goalkeeping coach.

‘ We have all had a long association with the club, both as players and youth coaches. We are looking forward to using our collective experience to continue to progress the team performance.

‘The hard work has already started as we look to add to our coaching team and playing squad in the build-up to pre-season training starting in mid-June.’

Danny Conlon, head of youth development at Fort William, added: ‘ We are pleased that Paul and his team have been appointed to the senior team and we wish them every success.

‘Within the youth development, we are in a strong position as we have a system of progression in place for our coaching teams and we have already made an appointment to our under-17s.’