The club has today reluctantly accepted the resignation of Manager John Kelly who has been with the club for just over 2 seasons. John’s first season saw the Ants finish mid table and his second was cut short by the postponement of the league due to Coronavirus pandemic. We would like to place on record our thanks to John for all his hard work and service to the club over the past two years as manager and the 6 months previous to that as a coach. He will always be welcome around McKenna Park way, as the old saying goes, once an Ants man always an Ants man.

The club will now begin the process of identifying suitable candidates for the vacant role and a further update will be made when available.

#forzaants #itsanantsthing

The club are delighted to announce a partnership with The Recovery Lounge, a dedicated sports recovery and injury centre based in Paisley that will see Alan and the team at the lounge provide performance therapies which will help the boys overcome injuries and ensure they are fully ready to come back from any layoff
Speaking to Ants manager John Kelly he let us know of his delight at the partnership. ” I am Delighted to set up this partnership with Alan at the recovery lounge. Alan and his team have a very good background and their knowledge of sports therapy and recovery is unbelievable.

I have been into the studio and the facilities they have are out of this world and will definitely benefit our boys on the pitch with their preparation and their recovery. I am over the moon with this.”

The Recovery Lounge also offers therapies to non athletes, for more information head over to their Facebook page

Welcome on board team!

The SFA’s policy announcement this week to rid football of all traces of homophobia is surely correct and will require the proactive participation of all Clubs in the game .

To  this end I am delighted that St Anthonys FC are designating our forthcoming fixture v Ardeer Thistle on Saturday 15th February for Football v Homophobia which is in line with our Club’s Constitution forbidding racism, religious intolerance, homophobia and similar issues .

Homophobia is cruel and unnecessary and our game will be healthier when it is eradicated . That it can be done is exemplified by decades of unwavering support I as a gay man have received at St Anthonys FC as their Chairman for many years . I wish our venture every success in support of the SFA’s stance .

Fred Barrows, Chairman,

St Anthony’s FC

Whilst we appreciate clubs becoming increasingly vocal with regard to leaving the West Region of the SJFA,  We feel clubs should give the Association every chance to try and gain entry to the pyramid through the Juniors and while discussions are still ongoing with the SFA we as a club will back the West Region to the hilt.

Stay strong & support the Juniors

The clubs popular Last Ant Standing competition is starting up again for the new year. We are going to start hopefully for the 18th January at £10 a go. Last time the prize money was £620 which was won by Paul Sweeney. This means no rollover, and a fresh slate so the prize money will be dependent on entries.

Last Ant standing is simple to take part in, you simply pick a Premier League club who you think will win from that weeks fixture list that is provided. If your team wins you advance to the next week, where you pick another Premier League club from that weeks fixture list, and so on until there is only one person left as the Last Ant Standing. If all entrants get eliminated without an outright winner then the prize money rolls over and everyone is eligible to come back in for a rollover!

If you are interested in entering either DM us on twitter or Facebook or email lastantstanding@theants.co.uk for more details

There are now only 47 entrants remaining from the initial 124 entrants after this weekends results took out more than half the entrants.

A full excel breakdown is available here

This week sees the return of the Ants last man standing competition and this times its even easier than before to sign up, pick your team and take part. We are using the Tippd app and website to run the competition so that you can submit your choices electronically, and see the results the next day. It gives you more control, and the notifications on the app will make sure you never miss a round. The app/website uses virtual free cash to sign up but it is £10 to join, the prize fund will depend on entrants but will be a 50/50 split (so the more players we have the bigger the prize pot), which you can pay via paypal, bank transfer, or in cash to a committee man. All you need is a facebook account/google account to sign up (If you don’t have either, you can sign up for a free google account by following the create account link on the google sign on page). Full rules are available on the link below

SIGN UP TO THE ANTS LAST MAN STANDING HERE

The competition starts at half 12 this Saturday so get involved

#itsalastmanstandingantsthing

Ants Gaffer John Kelly sat down with us here at Ants HQ to give us his thoughts on the sectional league campaign that ended with a win on penalties over Greenock at McKenna Park on Wednesday night(4-3 after a 2-2 draw) following defeats to Renfrew (6-0) and Port Glasgow (2-1) in the previous two matches.

” The opening game on the Friday night we were taught a harsh lesson by a very good renfrew side and to be honest 6-0 flattered us in the end. For the 1st 30 mins of the game we played well and our game plan was working until a silly needless mistake at the back gave Renfrew the goal that they needed to take control of the game. Apart from keeping the scorline at 6 there was no positives to take from that game.

On the Monday night we welcomed Port Glasgow and for large spells of the game I thought we played well, two lapses in concentration at the back again cost us the win or at least a draw

Last night we played very well against a good Greenock side, it was night and day from the Port game. We seemed to be more relaxed and more confident on the ball than we have done all of pre- season. We brought in a few players to the starting line up to freshen it up a bit and they done very well. Our keeper paddy made a few good saves considering he had an eye injury and saving 2 pens in the shoot out was different class.

Overall I am a bit disappointed in the scoreline against Renfrew and the defeat to Port Glasgow But last night against Greenock the performance was much much better so we can take confidence in that going into the league campaign on Saturday. We are probably still a few weeks away from being at full strength but we need a good start to the campaign and hopefully that comes with 3 points at Muirkirk.”

The Muirkirk game kicks off at 2pm on Saturday, admission £5 adults £2.50 OAP/Conc

The club are delighted to announce a partnership with American amateur club Motorik FC Alexandria, who are based in Alexandria, North Virginia in the United States of America, Motorik are very active on social media and play in the Maryland Major Soccer League 2nd Division. The club chose to partner with Motorik as both clubs share similar ethos in terms of looking to develop players and foster a community spirit within a cosmopolitan and culturally diverse demographic.

As well as partnering on a footballing & social media side the clubs will also be looking to partner on charitable initiatives going forward and this is something that excites both ourselves and Motorik chairman Kenneth Tebo. For more information on Motorik check out @motorikfc on Twitter or check out their website

We will provide further information as the partnership develops.

–ENDS–