McKenna: ‘We’re Building A Team’
Michael McKenna has revealed he had very little hesitation to pen the two-year contract which was announced last week.
The 25-year-old midfielder joined manager John Coughlin in signing on until summer 2018 after featuring extensively in his first season with the ‘Gers following his move from Livingston.
And McKenna, who netted the winner in last week’s 2-1 victory over Arbroath, admitted his surprise at the fact there were such contracts on offer for a club in Scottish League Two.
“I didn’t even know there were two-year deals going about in this league and as soon as I heard about it, I snapped it up straight away,” said McKenna, who was joined in signing on until 2018 by Darren Lavery and Robert Wilson at the weekend.
“It’s a great feeling but I can’t get complacent about it now that I know I’ve got two years. John’s played me most games but he’s dropped me when he’s had drop me so I know that I’m fighting for my jersey, but certainly two years gives me a great deal of confidence going into next season.”
“We never really kicked on after a good couple of games at the very start of the season and between September and Christmas, we were dire,” he said. “If we’d won just two more games in that period, we would’ve been in the play-offs.
“Since Christmas, we’ve been going into games feeling like we can win them, or at least not to lose them. A lot of credit has to go to John for that, as he’s really steadied the ship, but signings like Craney [Calum Crane], Jordan [McGregor] and big Brian [Martin] have been massive for us.”
And looking ahead, the former Livingston man believes everything is in place for the ‘Gers to achieve at least a play-off spot – while he is also targeting improvements on a personal level, too.
“These days in football, everything is so rushed,” he said. “Clubs want results instantly but it doesn’t always work like that. You have to build a team and that’s what we’re doing here and I think, come next season, we’ll be right up there.
“On a personal level, I need to add more goals to my game – everyone’s saying that. It happened when I was at junior level. First season I scored two goals and the season after, it was 18. But in terms of our chances, the boys feel the same. If we keep the core of the team together, I think we will go into next season gelling straight away.”
