East Kilbride Thistle will put faith in youth after last season's strategy backfired

East Kilbride Thistle boss Aaron Connolly admits the club will put their trust in youth this season - in stark contrast to their ‘high-profile’ signing spree of last season.

This time last year, the Jags had designs on winning the West of Scotland League Third Division when experienced, former SPFL players including Jamie Longworth, Barry Russell, David Gray and David Sinclair joined the club under then-boss Garry O’Hanlon.

Twelve months and some behind the scenes issues later, the Jags find themselves relegated and under the stewardship of Connolly after he took the reins mid-season in the last campaign.

After their relegation to the West of Scotland Fourth Division, Connolly has signed up for the season ahead and he has managed to keep many of the young players who played for the club in the latter stages in 2022/23.

Announced so far are winger Ross Kennedy, full-back Mark Steele, defender Ryan Anderson, midfielder James Scott and captain Adam Edgar.

More are to follow and Connolly hopes to unveil as many as five fresh faces, but admits they will all need to be “young and hungry” players with no financial incentive on offer at the Showpark.

Connolly said: “Since I took over permanently, the idea was that we will need to grow our own players, bring them through and give them an opportunity.

“I think we’ve got a good core group of players now and, despite some of our results last season, I think we can kick on now and be competitive.

“We have retained most of last season’s squad and that’s what these initial announcements are.

“We are adding some new players to that and I am really happy with where we are at the moment.

“The target now is improving our own youth structure and giving opportunities to our younger players.