Rutherglen Glencairn are closing in on a Scottish FA membership licence after a weekend of hard work at their ground.
The Hamish B. Allan stadium wasn’t used for a match last week after games with Cumbernauld United and Arthurlie were postponed.
It allowed boss Willie Harvey and president Elizabeth Allan, amongst others, to help put more work in for their membership. A financial boost for Glens and access to the Scottish Cup are amongst the benefits.
Harvey was happy to dust off his drill and tools to help around the club as it could be transformational, if a green light from the SFA’s Hampden headquarters is given.
He said: “We have been ticking all the boxes we need to have in place to help us get the license. The free Saturday meant we could get some work done on that and we are very close to the license, I would like to think.
“There’s hopefully not a long way to go. Financially, it’s helpful and it lifts the prestige of the club when you are attracting players to come and play here.
“It makes a difference. So we will work away on that as there’s a lot of work getting done on the stadium and in paperwork. The amount of paperwork that needs done is unbelievable.”
After two home postponements, Glens start a busy run of fixtures with West of Scotland Football League Premier Division matches against Cumbernauld United and Cumnock Juniors this week.
Harvey (pictured below) explained: “We have been very unlucky. Our park seems to just about get there and you are thinking that it is going to be in playable condition. Then the night before, bang, a downpour again.
“We’ve done a lot of work on the park and we haven’t had any games called off. But we’ve not had weather like we have had (in the last week).
“There’s not a lot you can do about it as we want to get the games played. I’ll be happy if we can get the park playable and get the games we need played.
“I don’t mind the odd one now and then. I think they have us in for a midweek game at home to Darvel and we have a midweek trip to Auchinleck because they have lights.
“We have to manage the squad and make sure we don’t pick up too many suspensions and injuries.”
Players from the club’ youth academy could be called upon to help Harvey’s team if player availability becomes an issue.
But the Rutherglen boss admits it’s not a good scenario if that plays out, although it could be forced.
Harvey added: “We have the 21’s we could use but that’s not the ideal scenario bringing them in for games that could be very important towards the end of the season. Those games could be important for us staying in the division.
“I would rather bring in the 21’s when it suits us so we can get players games and look at them for next year.”
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