BOSS STILL WAITING ON SMITH
Central stars enjoy a track and field day Mackay confident striker will take deal
Stirling Albion manager Dave Mackay is confident top scorer Darren Smith will remain at the club next season.
The former Motherwell and Stenhousemuir forward netted 25 goals for the Binos in 2017/18 and is mulling over a contract offer – with a decision expected this week.
Goalkeeper Cammy Binnie and midfielder Liam Caddis have become the latest players to agree new deals from last season’s squad and new arrivals are expected soon.
The Stirling boss said: “I’m confident that Darren will stay with us. He is going to get back to me this week.
“We made him the best offer we could at the beginning and he knows we don’t have much flexibility in the budget. I know he had a couple of other clubs interested in him but he enjoys it here and I think that will be a big factor in whether he stays.
“The injury he had at the end of the season is not a big deal. It was more a niggling thing he picked up because of the number of games we had in quick succession. Unfortunately he missed a few games but it’s not something that is going to affect him longterm.”
Mackay is pleased to have tied up Binnie and Caddis for 2018/19 but is looking to bring in another goalkeeper for competition. He said: “It was Cammy’s first full season as No.1 and he did pretty well. There are areas he still needs to improve but he’s still a young guy, especially in goalkeeping terms.
“He is only going to get better so I’m delighted he has agreed to stay and hopefully we can get more improvement out of him.
“We are still looking for another goalkeeper as well and we should know more on that later this week.
“This is a big year for Liam Caddis – we said that last year but he is in danger of letting the fantastic talent he has go SEE PAGE 52 to waste by maybe not applying himself as well as he could away from the pitch.
“We recognise how big a player he could be for us but he’s got to want it himself – there is only so much we can do for him.
“He has to take some responsibility and I’m sure he will. He’s knows it’s almost last-chance saloon for him in professional football .
“If this doesn’t work out he could find himself back playing Junior football and that’s not something him or I want.”
The Albion gaffer has already signed Elgin City left-back Jordan Allan, St Johnstone midfielder Danny Jardine and amateur striker Kevin Fell from UB United and further additions are close.
He said: “It’s been a hectic few days with phone calls to current players, potential new signings and agents.
“It’s the busiest time of year for a manager and probably the worst but it has to be done and we are hopeful of getting our work done early so we have everyone in time for pre-season training.
“We’ll be starting back on Thursday June 21, which is just a couple of days earlier than last year. We felt that was more than adequate and gives the guys a good break.
“We’re speaking to clubs about preseason games at the moment and hope to have something confirmed later this week.”