Neilston FC boss aims to put his own stamp on squad

The former Muirkirk manager took over at The Farmer's Boys in January after Chris Cameron and Derek Carson stepped down.

Results and performances have been promising under his leadership and, despite still having nearly a third of their games to play before the end of the season, he already has one eye on the 2023/24 campaign.

Muirhead told Barrhead Sport: “We’re planning for next season now and who we can get in and who is going to move on.

"We’ll be working hard to make sure we improve the squad.

“I do think there will be a lot of changes as we go through pre-season.

"Some of the boys who have been at Neilston for five, six or seven years maybe think it’s time for a new challenge as well.

“Managers start looking at next season from January because clubs can come in and sign players on a pre-contract from then, so we’ve got to start planning.

“We need to start planning for life without some players and approaching others to extend their contracts and look at other clubs and who is running out of contract there and who we can bring in.

"That process has started.”

Neilston currently occupy 10th position in the First Division of the West of Scotland Football League but are just three points clear of the relegation zone.

Muirhead revealed his team needs another five points to get to the target he set when he arrived, although he admits he also hopes they can go beyond that – starting with victory at Thorniewood United this Saturday.

He said: “We wanted to get to 32 points because we felt that would keep us safe.

“We’ve got nine games left to play and we only need to get five points from them but we want to be pushing and leave our mark on the league table.

“We won’t get promoted now but we want to be in with the teams involved in that and be around about it.

“If we can finish fifth or sixth, then that’s a signal of intent for next season and we can show players that we aren’t far away.”

Kick-off at Robertson Park on Saturday is at 2pm.