Albion Rovers boss pencils in return date for Lowland League push as recruitment work steps up

Albion Rovers’ season may have just come to an end a fortnight ago, but boss Sandy Clark is hard at work preparing for next season with the club set to return in June.

Most leagues are in the final throes of the campaign, but the Rovers players are already putting their feet up after a tough maiden season down in the Lowland League saw them finish a disappointing ninth.

The club’s aim is to get back into the SPFL and Clark knows Rovers require a summer overhaul to get them in contention to do so.

Midfielders Alex McCaw, Barry Duncan and Josh Tran have all penned new deals at Cliftonhill alongside defender Adam Fernie and attacker Bright Prince. And Clark and his staff are pushing on further with their plans for the 2024/25 campaign.

He said: “We have got a few feelers out for friendly games in pre-season and we know when we are starting back. We’ll be back towards the third week in June ahead of our opening game on July 27 in the Lowland League.

“The players who have re-signed have all got training programmes for over the summer. The biggest job I have got is recruitment. George [Patterson, the assistant manager], Michael Paton [player/coach], our scout and I are all going to different games at different levels over the next few weeks to see what we can potentially bring in.

“We have made a lot of enquiries about players to other clubs so we are working away on it. We have got a bit of time and we know we are going to have to be patient. You can’t get a lot of quick answers off of people over the summer because of where we are in the food chain.

“We are at the bottom end of it and players will want to play as high as they can. They will maybe exhaust trying League One or Two before looking at us, so we need to be aware