Development Squad Coaching Appointments
The club is pleased to announce the appointment of a new management team for Glentoran Seconds.
Mark Clougherty returns to the club as Development Squad Manager. He will be joined by William Hands and John Savage as assistant coaches while Jason Cummings and goalkeeper coach William Lee remain in their current roles with the squad.
Mark Clougherty has been in and around the game for 35 yrs. His father played professionally and also managed in Scotland. In his youth Mark was on the books at St Mirren and Dumbarton and he played and won the U21Scottish Cup with one of the top Juvenile clubs in Scotland, Kilpatrick. Mark has coached for both Rangers and Celtic. He moved to Northern Ireland in 2007 and played for Myola Park until a bad injury finished his playing career. He coached for the Glens 17s and 19s until the end of last season, helping win a National league title and finishing runner up in the Youth League Cup last season. He was also a coach with Tyrone at the 2015 Milk Cup. Mark had a spell this season as U19s manager at Glenavon this year before being invited back to the Oval by Alan Kernaghan. Mark has a range of qualifications gained through the SFA, FA and IFA. His aim, together with his coaching team, is to provide first team players for Alan in the 1st team through development in the 19s and Res. Alan’s own son is with Partick Thistle in the SPFL while his younger son Ciaran, is currently in the Glens reserve squad. He has also worked closely with current first team squad members Patrick Cafolla and Karl Hamill. Mark is confident his extensive experience will be of value to Glentoran in his new role and he is determined to help in every way possible to restore Glentoran back to where the club belongs at the very top of senior football.
William Hands has worked with mark for the last 6 seasons at club level. He worked from 2013 top 2015 at the Glens academy and now returns after a brief spell this season with Mark at the Glenavon Academy. William has coached for 13 years and has completed his coaching badges in Scotland with the SFA. He has been a Milk Cup coach for the past 3 years and has worked closely with both Mark and Alan Kernaghan as a local coach for Rangers. William started his coaching career with Dungoyne FC at their u16 & 17 age groups. He then joined Glentoran and from his previous spell at the club he knows the squads at all levels and is in a strong position to contribute to the future development of as many young players as possible into trophy winning first team players of the future. His primary aim is to develop players for Alan's first team through attractive, exciting football with the hope that our young players can develop a trophy winning mentality on their way to the top. William is an East Belfastman from Ballybeen and a proud Glenman.
John Savage joins Glentoran for the first time after a for year spell as Head of Coaching at Crusaders Youth Academy U16-U10 and a brief spell with Mark and William at Glenavon.Having coached teams against his new colleagues until 2015, John says he watched their Glentoran teams, spoke to them after games and developed an appreciation of the methodology and philosophy on which their teams are based, so when was asked to work with Mark at Glenavon he had no hesitation. He also jumped at the opportunity to take up his new development role at Glentoran. John says the new development coaching team are of one mind in how we go forward through the development of young players with the correct mindset, confidence, technical and tactical ability to play in the first team. As a young player John had spells at Glentoran Colts, Bangor, Carrick Rangers and Linfield. He is currently studying for his UEFA A License.
These appointments have been made by Alan Kernaghan following the resignation for family reasons of Jason Hill as manager of the Seconds. The club would like to thank Jason – a club playing legend – for his dedication in the role and we know he will continue to provide great service to the club in his new role on the scouting team.