St Andrews look ahead to new campaign after season ends

Saints and their fellow East of Scotland League clubs voted last week in favour of bringing a halt to the year with final positions based on a points per game basis.

The overwhelming 37-3 vote in favour of ending the season means Saints finish seventh in Conference A.

It aslo means a Premier League title win for Bo’ness and respective conference wins for Lothian Thistle HV and Tynecastle.

Club spokesman Donald Gellatly explained that St Andrews United were one of the clubs voting to end the season using points per game.

Some committee members did so reluctantly on grounds of sporting integrity, but Mr Gellatly says it’s important not to dwell on the matter.

“At least we know where we stand and there is no doubt that United will again be playing at tier seven in the Scottish pyramid system whenever the next season commences,” he said.

“We began the 2019/20 term aiming for promotion so everybody on the committee and management team is disappointed to have fallen 0.5291 average points short of our target.

“In reality, we were 18 points adrift of Leith Athletic in second, albeit with three games in hand, so there is clearly work to be done if we want to challenge for promotion next year.

“Indeed, it will be harder to climb a level in 2021 because the play-off places for runners-up have been scrapped but everybody at Recreation Park is just looking forward to watching live football as soon as it is safe to organise matches.”

St Andrews United have joined a hot of other clubs in the country to sign up to the ‘Donate a Ticket initiative with a view to raising some additional finance. Since clubs are not collecting entry money before home games during lock down, fans can still support their team by donating the equivalent sum online.

It is possible to donate using Paypal or credit/debit cards and the website is very easy to use.

Mr Gellatly added that he would like to encourage all St Andrews United supporters to visit the website and donate if they can.

For further information on the scheme,you can visit donateaticket.com/donate/st-andrews-united/

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