Interim boss believes community can be Fort William’s saviour

Fort William’s interim managers aims to rebuild a bond with the community and use it as a turning point for the North Caledonian League club.

Alan Gray and Tommylee Taylor were last week confirmed as short-term replacements for Chris Baffour, who left Claggan Park after just a few months in charge.

Baffour brought in a number of players from England as Fort regroup after being relegated from the Highland League at the end of last season.

On September 3, in what was Baffour’s final game, Fort posted a fine 2-1 win at Thurso to get off the mark, but for reasons not clarified by either party, there was to be more hot-seat upheaval.

With the full NCL card postponed last weekend, Fort’s next game is on Saturday against Orkney.

That fixture will be played in Inverness in recognition of the distance, with the return match likely to be played in the north, such as Golspie or Brora.

Interim boss Gray confirmed he and Taylor, assisted by Darren Duncan, have been happy with the initial reaction from the players.

And, vitally, the former South Lochaber Thistle manager confirmed a number of experienced Highland League-level players have agreed to come back to Claggan to kick-start a revival.

Former Fort William captain and central defender Andrew “Zoomer” Martin, winger Martin Munro and strikers Iain MacLellan and Logan Barker have all rejoined the club, which delights Gray.

He said: “What the weekend off allowed was a wee bit more time to work with the squad and look at what we have.

“All but one of the squad have committed to stay with Fort William and we have integrated six or seven good local players who we think will be really good additions to the squad, players with Highland experience, which is important.

“We’ve got a good blend here and, at the minute, it looks like a strong pool of players.”

Gray explained the next two weeks will be vital for the club as chairman John Trew and the management weigh up the options longer-term.

What is clear though is the importance of community for Gray, who said: “The aim is to get the community back involved and get the locals through the door and get the guys’ faces known. We wanted to bring the community back in with the club and the club back in with the community.”

There are three NCL matches tonight, with Inverness Athletic having the chance to go top should they win at Alness United, north rivals Halkirk United and Thurso meeting at Morrison Park, and Golspie Sutherland hosting Bonar Bridge.

Alan Gray hopes to steady the ship at Claggan Park.