St Peter’s boss Paul McTaggart admits he’s gutted to say goodbye to his boyhood club.
But he insists he’ll always be proud to have been the Paisley club’s first ever manager at senior level.
McTaggart has led the Glenburn-based side through their first campaign since joining the West of Scotland Football League (WoSFL) set-up, building a squad from scratch and guiding them to currently sit in third place in Division 4.
Having been involved with the club since its creation in 1984, McTaggart was already planning to move into the chairman’s role this summer with St Peter’s under-20’s boss John Dalziel taking his place in the dugout.
But due to a disagreement behind the scenes, McTaggart will now be stepping away from the club entirely after they ended their campaign with a disappointing home defeat to BSC Glasgow.
McTaggart told Express Sport: “This club means everything to me.
“I was with the first team all the way back in 1984 and I’m gutted beyond belief to be stepping away now.
“I need to stay true to myself though and it’s time for me and the club to move on.
“The club needs to continue to progress and I’m sure it will do. I want the club to go on and be successful
“I’ve known John since we were kids and he’s a good friend and coach who’s been at the club for a number of years as well. He’s taking on a great bunch of boys and I’m sure he’ll do a great job.
“I absolutely loved my time with the club and I wouldn’t change a minute of it, other than the ending.
“It was a proud moment for me to be the club’s first manager since joining the seniors and that will stay with me forever.
“St Peter’s is my team at the end of the day and I’ll still support them no matter where I am.”
McTaggart thanked his backroom staff of Mark Ferguson, Eric Taylor and Ryan McWilliams, as well as assistants at the start of the season Paul Gordon and Gavin Pick, for their support during an eventful first season in the WoSFL.
He also paid tribute to the club’s under-20’s who came up through the ranks to shine for the Paisley club against much more experienced opposition.
McTaggart said: “The players absolutely did themselves proud this season. We were hoping to challenge for the title, but to get to where we have in the league is still a great achievement.
“I’m so proud of every single one of them, especially the young boys who came up from the under-20’s and did so well for us.
“Jamie Menzies, Taylor Fadian, Sean Fitzpatrick, Kyle Dalziel, Luke Gillies and Riaghan McCarthy all came in and were exceptional.
“Getting to play at this level, against the likes of Craigmark and Renfrew, was a huge learning curve for the players and myself.
“We had a great seven game unbeaten run that got us back in contention in the league.
“We managed to win four out of four of the Paisley derbies against Glenvale as well.
“It’s great to have two teams in Paisley going forward and I wish Glenvale all the best too going forward.
"We’ve had a lot of great moments and I just want to thank everyone who has helped the club grow over the last year in this league.”
