Stirling Albion’s title-winning heroes have been warned the hard work starts here as they prepare for their first third-tier campaign since 2010.
The Binos finished their season with a 2-0 defeat to Albion Rovers in Coatbridge on Saturday. The defeat ended their 19 game unbeaten run which pushed them to league glory.
It’s now set to be a busy few weeks for manager Darren Young as he reshapes his squad for their League One tilt next season – and he has revealed he has already issued his pre-season plans ahead of the season restart on July 15.
Young admitted he’s pushing the players hard but insists the sacrifices on the training pitch are necessary to manage the step up.
The Albion gaffer said: “It’s going to be hard next season, we’ve got to have the same togetherness and work ethic, the drive and focus.
“The boys have already had their pre-season plan the other week there and I’ve got a bit of stick for it but they need to be prepared to bust a gut as soon as that pre-season starts.
“You’re going up a division against better players who are quicker so you need to be prepared to battle and match up against them so from that side of things, we need to make sure we are ready to go and stick to our plans.”
Stirling were able to rest a number of first-team regulars – including Dale Carrick, Jack Leitch, Robert Thomson and Blair Currie – for the Rovers match, with the manager not willing to risk them after they picked up niggles during the long season.
Young added: “We’ve been preparing for the last few weeks for next season and it’s great to be in that position.
“We had seven players missing today through injuries and illness, some guys with niggles who there’s no point taking a chance on, that’s the fortunate position we were in that we didn’t have to force them to play.”
Meanwhile, winger Danny Denholm became the first member of the Albion squad to reveal that he will leave the club.
The former East Fife and Arbroath player said on Twitter: “What a season it has been.
“Stirling Albion have given me my love back for football.
“Definitely going to keep playing. If any teams in an hour radius from Edinburgh are reading this...consider this my ‘come get me’ tweet.”
The next big date in the calendar for the Binos is the release of the SPFL’s fixture list – where the Stirling faithful will be able to find out who they will kick-off their League One campaign against on July 30.
