Gavin Price hopes consistency can be key as Elgin City hope to emulate Arbroath and Montrose success
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ELGIN City manager Gavin Price hopes consistency can be the key to success as the Black and Whites fight for promotion to League One.
City signed club legend Brian Cameron up on a new three-year deal last week, with the midfielder becoming the latest member of the current squad to commit to the club.
Price hopes the consistency within the squad, and the lack of summer turnover, can see Elgin emulate Angus sides Montrose and Arbroath, and push up the leagues.
He said: “There’s a good culture at the club just now and a culture you can only create by maintaining consistency within your squad.
“Over the past two years, that’s the road we’ve been going down. There are eight or nine key players in that squad who have signed long-term deals and hopefully there are more to follow because I don’t want to be chopping and changing the squad every season.
“We have got a good base. With a wee bit of tweaking here and there, it’s a squad that we are confident is going to challenge. So why change that?
“You look at the examples of Arbroath and Montrose, who have kept a core of their squad at the club for years now and it’s a big part of their success. We are not there yet but it’s certainly a road that we want to try and follow.”
Another positive for Price has been the impact the youth set-up is having on the first team, with the number of local players coming through the academy on the rise.
“We’ve got the most positive part of the academy coming through,” Price said.
“We’ve seen it with Aidan Sopel coming through this season and making big strides with regular football in the first team.
“David Wilson has played over 50 games since coming through the youth system and you have Soapy (Brian Cameron) and Darryl (McHardy), who have been shining lights.
“I’m seeing some real talent in the squad just now and I’m seeing guys that are already knocking on the first-team door – Fin Allen and Matt Jamieson, guys that are really progressing quickly.
“Without putting pressure on them, it’s good having them involved in the squad and hopefully we will see another Soapy Cameron in the future.”
It remains unclear when football below the Championship in Scotland will return, with play suspended until at least the middle of February.
Elgin’s last fixture was the 4-0 Boxing Day victory against Civil Service Strollers in the Scottish Cup, which set up the postponed second round tie with Championship side Ayr United.
While keeping the squad together, and despite football’s shutdown, Price is hoping to add a bit of quality to his squad.
He added: “It’s difficult at the minute. We would like to take in one player, but we will wait and see.
“We are looking locally for players for next season as well, but hopefully we will have news on that at a later date.”
