Brechin City Chairman, Ken Ferguson, this week issued a rallying call for those with an interest in local football to pull together and get behind City for what’s proving to be a challenging season.

Most football people recognise that Brechin City consistently outperform clubs from larger population centres. The current season has proven to be tough for the Club, with a 5-match losing streak culminating with the departure from Glebe Park last month of manager Jim Weir, and subsequently his management team.

“As the Club enters a new chapter in it’s history under the leadership of Ray McKinnon ably supported by former player Grant Johnson we would ask our fans to give the coaches a warm Brechin welcome, there is a lot of hard work to be done to try and recover our league position in the face of strong opposition,” said Ken. “It is crucially important that every City supporter – including the occasional ones – get along to Glebe Park from now right through the season. With three home games coming up in a row, including a Scottish Cup tie, the Club must show a united front to rise to the challenges ahead. Scottish Football is going through an unprecedented period of change making it more important than ever that we maintain our 2nd Division status. With the Club running a number of initiatives to encourage more support such as free season tickets for all schoolchildren now is the time to come along to Glebe Park and show your support for the coaches and players, together we can enjoy success at the Club and stimulate business for the town.”

The ongoing financial climate remains a concern to those on The Management Committee entrusted with balancing The Club’s books. Commenting on the challenges, Treasurer Martin Smith said, “We’ve yet to see the full financial impact of the unprecedented circumstances of Rangers competing in the lower leagues. Other clubs will see the knock-on effect of this on their own finances, and their boards have to face the dilemma of whether they plough money into their club infrastructure, or invest directly into their first team squad in the hope of more immediate on-field success.” Martin added, “At Brechin City, we have an aging stadium which costs money to maintain, and there’s often an appetite to invest in the nice-to-haves, as much as the essentials. For example, we have a project underway at present to upgrade our website, but it requires significant investment – so like other things it has to compete for financial priority.”

Grant Hood, the Committee Member charged with generating income from Sponsorship and Hospitality, said, “The Club genuinely appreciates every financial contribution made by the numerous businesses and individuals who do so, particularly the hard-core who have supported The Club for many years. Our hospitality offerings have a broader range than ever, with added creativity to the pricing structures as a direct result of, quite simply, listening to what supporters want.” Grant went on to add, “We’re doing our best to market the Club to a wider area to try and generate income from new sources. What is crucial for supporters to understand however is that, since we try to keep costs under control by not having a permanent commercial specialist on the payroll, we’re reliant on supporters of Club to act as indirect sales people themselves, and look to point new sponsors in our direction.”