Transfer News: Coletto Is Back And Black Signs On
Nairn County have bolstered their ranks with the addition of two new players to the squad in time for tomorrow's league clash with Lossiemouth at Station Park. It brings the total number of players recruited by manager Les Fridge since the end of last season up to 12.
First through the door is former County man Andrea Coletto. The Italian-born utility man came through the youth ranks at Station Park and made several first team appearances under former manager Ronnie Sharp when the club finished in fifth place in the league. Injuries and loss of form restricted him during the following season before he opted for pastures new shortly after Les Fridge's appointment as manager by joining junior club Nairn St Ninian in the summer of 2004. He resurrected his career with the Showfield outfit and played a vital role in their promotion-winning campaign last season while he also collected a Gordon Williamson Cup winner's medal along the way. He severed his ties with the Saints halfway through this season though and took up the offer of training facilities with Nairn's under-19 side several weeks ago. , Coletto did enough to convince Fridge to hand him a trial with the first team squad and with fellow left-sided player Darren Jarvie now unavailable for the foreseeable future because of university commitments, he has done enough to earn himself a two-and-a-half year contract at Station Park.
Fridge said: "Andrea is a local boy, is left sided and we needed to act after the loss of Darren (Jarvie). He can play in defence as well as in the midfield while he has certainly been known for scoring goals for the Saints."
He added: "We have an extremely young team now, no doubt about that. Maybe it is a case of having to rebuild again and look to the future. I had to do that when I first came here four years ago. Clach have done it in the last two years, Forres have done it, Rothes, Buckie, Fraserburgh and now Inverurie are looking to do it. We're no different from anyone else, it might be a case of giving these boys games and giving them experience and look to build again."
Meanwhile, Nairn have successfully ended their drawn out pursuit of Forres defender Gary Black after agreeing a fee with the Mosset Park club. Fridge revealed several weeks ago that he was interested in the former Clach man but only now have both clubs come to agreement. Black has signed for the remainder of this season and another three on top of that.
He only returned to Mosset Park in March of last year after a fourteen month stint with Clachnacuddin. Before that, he played in the Highland League with Brora Rangers and earned himself a move to Forres, where he played in the Can Cans North of Scotland Cup final defeat to Nairn. Almost two months later, he was placed on the transfer list by then Forres manager Steve Paterson after being left out of the squad to face Dumbarton in the Scottish Cup.
Fridge said: "I'm delighted Gary comes to us on a three year deal. He is a player I wanted to bring to Nairn when he was leaving Clach but Forres pipped us to that one. He is essentially a very versatile defender as he can play on either side of the defence of at sweeper. He is a player with a bit of bite so for that reason I may use him in a man marking role and he can also adapt to playing in the middle of the park.
"As I have said, we're a young team and not that well off for defenders but the word experience has to be used in connection with Gary. I'm looking for him to use his time with Forres and Clach to good effect with us."
Both players are in line to make their debuts against Lossiemouth tomorrow but Stephen Skinner and Scott Graham will both miss out through holidays and injury respectively.