The dust has now settled on the 2023/4 season as far as the ‘Loons’ are concerned and Ray McKinnon and the Directors of the club are delighted to bring you a first of what will hopefully be many an update on the playing squad situation as we head into what is always these days a very short close season.
Pre-season training is due to commence in mid June with the first competitive game in the Premier Sports Cup scheduled potentially for Saturday July 13th.
Firstly the club can confirm as has been widely known that at present only four of the current squad are on contract for next term.
Matty Allan, Russell McLean and Josh Skelly are committed to the club till June of 2025, while Marc McCallum the club’s longest serving player by some distance signed a new deal earlier in the year which runs till the summer of 2026.
Discussions have been on going over the past week with the remainder of the current squad in regard to potentially extending their stay at Station Park or otherwise and it is hoped that we will be in a position to issue a more comprehensive update on the outcome of these talks later in the week.
Naturally as at every club these days there will be players departing and new faces arriving prior to the start of the new season.
At this juncture Ray can confirm that two players will be moving on.
Firstly Roberto Nditi such a wholehearted and popular player with supporters of all ages is leaving not only the ‘Loons’ but also his career in Scottish football behind for the present time.
The defender who arrived at Station Park from non league football south of the border originally on an amateur basis in the midst of the covid epidemic in February of 2021 has announced that due to family commitments he is moving back to the London area from his current Glasgow base.
Roberto will now look to continue a career which saw him within touching distance of being capped by Tanzania earlier in the year in or around the Capital City area.
Following his initial spell at Station Park which saw him make 11 starting appearances in the latter half of the 2020/21 season, Roberto signed a one year deal which brought with it full time football at Queen of the South.
However he returned to Forfar in the summer of 2022, going on to make 67 appearances over the past two campaigns.
We will watch with interest where he finds a berth in the English ‘pyramid’ system and he heads back ‘home’ with the best wishes of all at Station Park for his future.
Also moving on from the club is our second longest serving player Darren Whyte whose career has been so sadly disrupted in recent years through various injury problems, a few of which have required fairly major surgery and lengthy rehabilitation.
Darren moved to Forfar in the autumn of 2017 originally on loan from parent club St. Mirren , signing his first full contract with the Athies the following summer upon his release by the ‘Buddies.’
In his first three seasons at Station Park Darren was a key player in defence for the club making 104 appearances but a horrendous run of injuries since have seen him record only 32 appearances over the four seasons since.
A move on loan last autumn to Clyde also ended in jury heartbreak, followed by further surgery and at present Darren is in recovery mode, prior to deciding on his football future.
Darren has expressed his appreciation to the club for the support he has received especially from our medical team and club officials during this injury plagued spell in particular and he moves on with every best wish for his future on all fronts.
As is the case with Roberto, a warm welcome will always be available on any return visit to the ‘toonie.’
In this first close season up date, Ray and his management team would also like to pay tribute to the four players we have had available to us in the second half of the season on a temporary transfer basis, all of whom will now return to their parent clubs.
Finlay Allan and Rayan Mohammed head back to Dens Park, Dylan Lobban to Pittodrie, while Tyler Mykta returns to Cove Rangers.
Thanks to them all for their contribution to what was an improved second half of the season for the club, hopefully they will all have gained some benefit from the experience and all the best for their future in the game.
