I want to thank all of our academy players and staff for their incredible efforts during one of the most challenging seasons in the clubs history.
During the season 5 academy players made their debut in SPFL competitions for the first team.
Some as the result of a well coordinated process and others in incredible circumstances such as Luke Smallwood showing incredible resilience to help the team achieve a result with 10 men against Annan Athletic.
Our under 20’s development squad went from strength to strength led by Jordan Woodford and Daryl Smith, engaging in a challenging best v best games programme during the season to narrow the gap for our young players trying to challenge for a first team place.
This games programme will continue on into the new season as we look for the best possible quality of challenge for our young players.
The 19’s squad led by Brian Deeley have provided numerous players through the pathway during the season and have provided a crucial role in linking the intermediate academy to the 20’s group
Our 16’s led by Kevin Goodwin and 17’s led by James McMurray and Mark Morrison have made big strides in their first season as part of Dumbarton FC and both finish the season off in the perfect way with cup finals at hand this morning.
Both kick-off at 10AM at the King George V parks in Renfrew and I’m sure will get plenty of support, whilst the priority for our academy will always be player development, testing our young players in cup finals can only be positive in this regard.
It would be remiss not to once again mention the sad loss during the season of our chief academy scout Alan McDevitt, Alan’s loss is keenly felt, and his influence lives on too throughout all of our squads and our club.
Our new chief youth scout Scott Granger is hard at work with his recruitment team ahead of the new season and I want to thank Scott for stepping into the role.
I also want to thank all of our sponsors and partners through the season including the local clubs in the area who have been keenly engaged with us to deliver success for our wider community in Dumbarton.
We have over 100 players within the club and I’m confident this will grow further in the coming years.
Finally, I’ve engaged in discussions with our new owner Mario Lapointe and it’s clear that we share a crystal clear vision of what the academy should strive to look like in the years ahead, there’s a lot of work to be done and Im looking forward to the success we can achieve in the years ahead.
You’ll hear again from me later in the summer about exciting plans for next season.
Gordon Scanlan
Head of Youth Development
