Alex Edmonstone insists moving from Hamilton Rugby Club to Whitecraigs is a sideways step, but couldn’t turn it down, because it’s closer to home.
Edmonstone has been at Laigh Bent since May 2019, and took over as head coach a year later, but recently announced that he was taking over as boss at West Lodge.
But while he acknowledged the size of club Whitecraigs are, he said they’re no bigger than Hamilton, having been relegated from National League 2 at the end of the season just past.
Edmonstone said: “It’s a club I’ve been at before. I was an assistant coach at Whitecraigs about five or six years ago and I really enjoyed my time there.
“It’s my local club, I live over here, at Clarkston, so the opportunity came up, and it was just one that worked well for me and my family, to be honest.
“It’s a big club, with a lot going on and a big youth set-up, but it’s no bigger or smaller a club than Hamilton. It’s just a different club, and a local club to me, but I’m looking forward to it.
“I’ve got a lot of old friends there, a lot of family connections, and I’m looking forward to it. It’s a familiar club, like Hamilton they share my values about players having fun, a big focus is on family and local community, which is very similar to Hamilton.
“What attracts me to the opportunity is the fact that it’s a club that’s similar to my own heart, it has the same ethos and values that I share.
“It feels very difficult to leave Hamilton. It’s a different challenge; Whitecraigs were relegated from the league so it’s an interesting challenge coming up.
“I found it difficult to leave a lot of the players. I feel that we have a young squad who have developed as players and as men, and human beings.
“There are a lot of guys in there who I’m sad to leave, because it’s a really good young squad. But it’s just something that works well for me and for my family.”
Edmonstone hopes next term can be a bit more normal, without Covid wreaking havoc.
He added: “It has been a challenging season for everyone. That last season was long.
“It’s a 12-team league we’re in, but it felt longer than normal, with the issues we had, and we had an elongated pre-season.
“We’re conscious that Covid hasn’t disappeared, but we are getting back to more normality, at the moment, and long may that continue.
“Hopefully we can just have a relatively uninterrupted season.”
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