After another long and hard season we must now turn our attention to preparing The Club for the season ahead in League Two.

We fully appreciate that everyone associated with The Club is incredibly disappointed to be relegated to League Two having survived in League One or above for the past 17 years. It has to be said that this record in itself was quite a remarkable achievement given the size of our population and being surrounded by five other senior clubs all within a 25 mile radius of each other. Football is cyclical game and it's our turn to be at the lower end of the cycle. There is no doubt that we have paid a heavy price for our brief spell in the Championship and that the effects of that season rolled over into the last.

It's easy to see what went wrong last season with key players out injured for long spells of the season, not advancing in the cup competitions and generally below par performances especially against the teams around us at the lower half of the league. Changes had to be made mid-season to try and maintain our League One status. We appointed Manager Barry Smith who significantly changed the makeup of the squad in the January window despite our limited financial resources. In the end the changes weren't enough with the results in the final business end of the season being well below what was expected of the squad.

A number of meetings have been held since our last game. Barry & Steve are to continue to manage the team for the new season. There is a tremendous amount of rebuilding to be done as we form a new squad for the League Two challenges. This time of year will inevitably see players leaving The Club, some of who will have been with us for many years and who we will have shared some great times. We are grateful to everyone who has pulled on the jersey and we wish all the players every success in their chosen path. As always one of the biggest challenges we face is to try and balance the books whilst still giving the Manager sufficient resource to build a team capable of competing amongst the best teams in the league. It is for this reason that admission & season prices are to be set at the following amounts:

Admission Prices

Adult £15, Concession £10, Parent & Child £16.

Season Ticket Prices

Adult £200, Concession £100

Free schoolchildren tickets will be continued for Season 2019/20, however the free over 80's season ticket initiative of last season will not be continued for Season 2019/20. Early bird discounts will not apply for season tickets with The Club guaranteeing to allocate the usual early bird discount directly to the players' budget.

Whilst prices are slightly higher than other teams in the league we feel we have no choice but to take this position if we are to hold any ambition of returning to League 1 and more importantly avoid sliding further.

The season tickets prices still represent a significant saving in the comparable full admission price i.e. 26% discount for Adults and 45% discount for Concessions, it is also worth reminding everyone that by purchasing a season ticket you are investing in ownership of one of the few member owned football clubs left in the Scottish game.

Much has been said about the financial reserves we must have built up from the season in the Championship. Whilst we are required to present the financial reports to our members at the Annual General Meeting suffice to say that any reserves we did have are now spent and that we are starting over again. Speaking of the AGM (provisional date 10th July) and as reported earlier we fully expect that not all current members of the Management Committee will be seeking re-election which in turn means that vacancies will exist for any season ticket holders who feel they want to get involved and can assist The Club with a specific skill or expertise.

The successful working groups are also to be continued and hopefully expanded to allow any supporters who want to lend a hand but don't have the time to fully commit to a management committee role. We currently have a Media Group and a Stadium Group doing great work and intend to set up an Events Group to help with hospitality and fund raising events.

We simply must get back to winning ways, much as there will be 9 other teams in the League with their own ambition trying to stop us doing so we fully understand that we cannot expect fans to keep paying good money if we are not able to entertain on the park and provide a comfortable and happy matchday experience. Now more than ever we require the support of the businesses and individuals in the town and beyond to help us build again and help to put a smile back on the faces of those who spend their time with us each Saturday afternoon and who support from afar.

Ken Ferguson.
Chairman
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It was a tough end to the season and both myself and Stevie are hurting, as is everyone else connected to The Club.

The good thing about football is you can get a chance to put everything right and that is where our minds are fully focused.

After reflecting on my 7 months in charge and how the season panned out we have decided a rebuilding job needs to be done to get the feel good factor back to The Club and on the pitch.

On the playing side there will be changes to the squad but within the squad there are still good players that we'd very much like to keep.

Callum Tapping, Paddy O'Neil, Jordan Tapping, Mikey Miller, Craig Thomson, Sean Burns and Scott Robertson have all been offered deals.

Andy Jackson and Dougie Hill, who have been consummate professionals since I came in, are considering offers from a higher division.

Paul McLean has decided to move on to a League 2 Club and he goes with our best wishes after spending so long at Brechin City.

Unfortunately, there is always player movement at this time of the year and those departing Glebe Park are Ryan McGeever, Dene Shields, Ross Kavanagh, Kalvin Orsi, Aron Lynas, Euan Smith, Jordan Sinclair and Giuliano Morena - whilst Graham Bowman and Euan Spark have been invited back to join us during our pre-season preparations. For those leaving we thank them for their efforts during their time with The Club and wish them well in the future. In addition, we also thank our loanees Lewis Toshney, Tam Scobbie and Sam Jamieson (as well as their parent clubs) for their time and efforts during the second half of the season.

It is a big turnover in players but one I felt was needed to get this club back on track.

With relegation there obviously comes financial restraints but with the connections Stevie Campbell and I have we are confident we will have a competitive team on the pitch.

There is no divine right to come straight back up but first and foremost we want to put a team on the pitch that supporters can be proud of.

I am certainly up for the challenge along with the Board and I hope the fans are too.

Keep behind the great club that is ours and hopefully we can put the smile back on the faces of the people of Brechin.

Barry Smith
Manager