Troon are delighted to appoint Calum Nairn as our new Development Team Head Coach.
27 year old Calum was a midfielder of some talent with Maybole & Girvan, winning successive promotions to the Premier Division with the latter. As a Coach, he has experience working with the Valspar youth teams (featuring our own Jordan Lusk) which led the way in the West of Scotland Under 19 leagues before he was appointed Maybole Under 20s Coach.
Calum will be assisted with the Development Team by Evan Martin, who has been working with our Under 19 team for the last couple of seasons. Hopefully this will smooth the pathway for players coming through the ranks, as well as improve the coaching pathway with another young Coach working in our Academy. Former Troon Captain Dougie Ramsay will also be helping with the coaching, in between working away, and he will be lending his considerable knowledge & experience to the team when available. Richard Henderson will continue to support the coaching staff, as always.
Troon’s Management team were pleased with the quick appointment after Thomas O’Ware departed to join Rangers after Friday’s win over Largs Thistle, a result which saw the team climb to the top of the Lowland Development League Conference F table.
We are delighted to bring Calum to the club & look forward to working with him in our Development Team. The team have obviously being doing really well this season under Tam, seven wins in a row is remarkable in any league, but we have new challenges ahead to keep developing the players so they are prepared for the first team.
Tam will be a hard act to follow, but just as we did with his appointment we believe we have the best Coach we could get to look after the team and we are delighted that we have found the right one for us.
We have a really talented group of players in our Development Team, and there are some more working their way up from our Under 19 team, all of whom have wholeheartedly bought into what we’re doing at the Academy. It was important to have the right kind of individual for us going forward as well as the right coach.
As well as his pedigree in football, Calum is a professional golfer so he obviously knows what it takes to compete at an elite level of sport.
Youth Development is something I have been absolutely committed to since I introduced our Development Team to Troon in 2013 under Neil Duffy, and I am delighted to say we have a terrific record in blooding young players since then – every single season since we started that Under 19s team we have had players making appearances for the first team, and that’s always been a big part of our squad selection.
Some of our youngsters have gone on to win Scottish Junior Cup medals and League titles after featuring in our first team at 16, so if you’re good enough you’re old enough. That’s always been my mantra, anyway.
Jimmy Kirkwood (Troon F.C. Manager)
Delighted to have Callum join us. He will bring a different dimension to the Youth Academy.
He knows this grade of football really well, having coached in it recently with Maybole, as well as playing Junior for many years. A dedicated professional who can hopefully build on the good work done by Tam.
Look forward to working with him to further enhance the academy and keep the conveyor belt of talent coming through.
Dean Keenan (Troon F.C. Assistant Manager)
Welcome to Portland Park, Calum!