Mark McCuish was more than just a former Ants player and assistant manager. He was a much loved member of the Ants family and his ties with the club go way back to the mid/late 80s when his dad Alco was the clubs assistant manager. He spent the occasional day or two in the summer back then picking up stones from the old Helen Street pitch as his dad and Felix McKenna Jnr plotted how to improve the squad for the coming season.

He then returned as a player in 2004 when he was signed by James McKenna and Dixie Kilcullen where he proved to have the ability to match up to that wee swagger of confidence he had. Mark became a mainstay of the team until he moved to Bellshill Athletic in 2008 but it was clear his heart still lay at McKenna Park and he moved back to the Ants the following season. He would stay with the Ants for another 5 seasons before moving to Renfrew, but once again the pull of McKenna Park proved to much for him and he came back after only 6 months, before leaving to finish his Junior career at Neilston where he moved in 2015 before retiring in 2016.

Despite moving on, Mark would often be spotted at McKenna Park if he didn’t have a game or latterly when his playing career came to an end on Saturday’s if Celtic weren’t playing or he wasn’t on shift in the fire brigade.

A tenacious yet talented midfielder Cuish always gave his all on the park although sometimes his emotions would get the better of him and he found himself either in the referees book or in the changing room, but it was never malicious, he just wanted to give everything he had for his team-mates and the club.

In October 2020 Mark was appointed as the Club’s assistant manager alongside Danny Taylor and it was a position he held with great pride although he had to leave the role after 6 months due to family and work commitments.

Sadly Mark became ill a couple of weeks ago and fought the illness with the same spirit and tenacity that had been evident as a player, putting up such a brave fight for his life but sadly there was nothing that could be done and he passed with his family by his side.

Such a tragedy that a boy with such a zest for life has been taken away from us all and our thoughts, prayers and love are with his wife Natalie, his two daughters Harley-Rae and Lillia Beau, his Mum Anne and his brother Stephen as well as with all of Mark’s family and friends

The word legend is thrown about far too easily these days but there could be no more fitting word to describe Mark and the whole club is devastated with his passing.

All of our matches over the next week will have a minutes applause in celebration of Mark’s life and we will pass on the arrangements for his funeral in due course

Fly High Mark, you will be sadly missed around McKenna Park

Forever An Ants Man 🐜💚

Saint Anthony’s Ladies are delighted to announce that the Beatson Cancer Charity will be our official Charity Partner for season 2024/25. The partnership will see the Queen Ants proudly display the Beatson Cancer Charity logo on the sleeve of our home and away shirts this season and will be wearing Beatson Cancer Charity tshirts during the warmups of all matches. We will also be working with the charity on some fundraising ideas including bucket collections at matches.

We met with Joyce Ross, Partnerships Fundraising Manager who was delighted to have the Ants Ladies back the Beatson. “We are delighted to welcome St Anthony’s Ladies FC as charity partner and look forward to working with you over the coming season and to see the team in our Beatson t’shirts” and Ants Ladies Club Secretary Martin McKenna was also excited to see how the partnership develops over the next season. “We have worked with Joyce and the team at the Beatson Cancer Charity over a few years now and we have a great working relationship with them. I’m excited to see how the partnership develops as the Ants Ladies team continues to grow as we get started with competitive football in the SWF West this season”.

We can’t wait to see the logo on the shirt and hope this is the start of a fantastic partnership

The club are happy to announce that senior players Graeme Crawford and Njabulo Ndlovu have agreed to step up as the clubs interim management team following the departure of Danny Taylor.

Graeme has been with the club for 11 years as a player and is the current club captain and Njabulo has been out injured for the past year with a knee injury having joined the club back in October 2020, he also captained the club during the effective promotion season of 2021/22 and we thank them for agreeing to step up to help the club out at this time.

They will be in the position until a permanent management team is in place. To that end we would like to invite applications for the managers role by contact Club Secretary Martin McKenna on 07832643604 or by email info@theants.co.uk. The application process will close 11th August 2024

Saint Anthony’s Football Club is delighted to announce of our partnership with SNAP Sponsorship.

SNAP is specifically designed for aiding the development of UK-based grassroots sports clubs, providing them with an accessible online platform where users can promote sponsorship opportunities and manage commercial partners. SNAP has given us the ability to design and execute sponsorship packages that deliver tangible value to our existing and future partners and in doing so maximising return for sponsors and enhance the club we all love.

For further information on our range of sponsorship opportunities please visit our official SNAP profile here: https://www.snapsponsorship.com/rights-owners/football/saint-anthonys-fc

Many thanks to everyone that forwarded their best wishes and congratulations on us gaining what in effect is a promotion, to our supporters, players and their families, none more so than Kelly Wallace, who joined our Under 20’s committee at the start of the season and is now a member of the full committee,   our fantastic partners at Erskine Youth Football Club, Dom, Scott and Kenny who have done a tremendous job with our under 20’s producing no less than 6 players who have made the step up to the first team on a regular basis. Special thanks to Ronnie McDonald and ex manager John Kelly who were instrumental from our side in getting the 20’s up and running, only for Covid to hit and John deciding to leave his post with a number of players choosing to leave at the same time

The club then recruited former players. Danny Taylor and Mark McCuish as manager and assistant respectively suitably aided by a superb back room staff with Ronnie staying on as a coach, Paul Downie continuing as kit co-ordinator and Steven Irvine joining as Goalkeeper coach not long after when Tony ‘Tiger’ Curran had to step away through work commitments, Thank you Tiger!. They took the role having to start almost from scratch squad wise and it’s credit to them they have brought in a squad of good quality hard working players who’s attitude and determination have been first class. Our season didn’t get off to the best of starts when a week before the season was due to begin I myself caught covid, which wiped me out for a good 7-8 weeks, and our opening game cancelled due to an outbreak at the club. My son Martin took over from me temporarily as Match Secretary and did such a wonderful job that we were delighted when he accepted the challenge of taking on the role permanently.

Assistant Mark McCuish had to give up his role as Assistant Manager for personal reasons but Ronnie McDonald stepped up into the role, and his close working relationship with Dom from the Under 20’s played a big part in our success this season, given the number of players that made the step up. For me the final piece of the promotion jigsaw was Martin McKenna, who’s organisation and constant work for the club was and is still outstanding.

It would be remiss of me not to mention my committee members who have worked above and beyond expectations since the first Covid outbreak. My President Robert Gillespie whom I burned a lot of midnight oil with was certainly an inspiration. Our former treasurer and now Club Secretary, my oldest son Anthony McKenna for his fundraising abilities with his Beatson Walk and excellent Last Man Standing competitions. Martin for taking on the baton when I was unwell. Thanks also to Len Littler who did some incredible work at the park pre-season, My Vice President Jim Allan who along with Laurence Cusack and John Munchie McMonigle also helped a lot during pre-season and have given up Ants away days to man the ship when our groundshare partners St Cadoc’s are gracing the hallowed McKenna Park surface, my brother John McKenna who come rain, shine, snow or hail, can always be found on the gate at our home matches, nice one John,  and our Club Chaplin Brian MacKenzie who has been brilliant since joining us from Sports Chaplaincy UK.

Now that I have thanked my committee I would like to thank the players who started this journey with us and are no longer at the club your contribution is very much appreciated.

To our current crop of players my heartfelt congratulations, Back at the start of the journey a finish in the league like this seemed like it would take a miracle and it must have been written in the stars that Stephen McGarrigle would score the 94th minute equaliser that secured promotion having endured a bad injury that could have led to his retirement.

Well done to everyone, supporters, players and committee alike, and lastly to Club Chairman Fred Barrows, who like me, was overcome with emotion at the full time whistle and a few tears shed.

Here’s to next season and MON THE ANTS!

Felix

The club are delighted to announce that Principal Club partners The Govan Law Centre, along with U20s principal partner DS Decor and Club GK Supplies Partner Sparta Goalkeeping have all accepted a proposal by the club to extend their partnerships with the club for free as a good will gesture from the club. The club felt that given the stop start stop nature of the league campaign, coupled with our new U20s not kicking a ball in earnest at all in their new league, that to look to extend the deals for anything other than free would be unethical, therefore we reached out to our partners who have all agreed to new one year extensions running until the end of the 2021/22 season.

We are delighted to have them all on board again for next season and look forward to working on different projects with them all in the year ahead

#itsapartnershipantstthing #forzaants

I take pride from the immense efforts of Committee and Management who have worked so hard to keep the Club going throughout the pandemic. In conditions both difficult and potentially dangerous their efforts have been heroic.

Covid has engendered wholesale changes in League organisation in which our Secretary was deeply involved and opens up new opportunities for St Anthonys in the future. We must not forget that it is always darkest before the dawn and difficult months lie ahead. I believe our proud old Club will pull through even stronger and we will work together to achieve that ambition.

God Bless us all and keep safe,
Fred Barrows,
Chairman