Signing of Meekings is a statement of intent, says Brora manager
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Brora Rangers manager Steven Mackay has described the signing of Josh Meekings as a statement of intent for the season ahead.
And he says he is still looking to bring in a midfielder and a forward to strengthen the Cattachs' push for promotion to League Two.
Meekings has put pen to paper on a three-year deal with the Sutherland club as he arrives from English National League outfit Wealdstone.
The 28-year-old former Caley Thistle and Dundee defender was a Scottish Cup winner during his time at Inverness.
Mackay believes that with the Englishman at centre-back Brora will now be strong enough in defence. However, he says they require at least two more additions to be capable of retaining the Highland League title and achieving promotion to League Two of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL).
Preferably he will seek to recruit experienced players.
“I think the squad is light and we will look to bring in another experienced player if we can,” Mackay said.
“The market is lean as not a lot of experienced players are available. But we will bide our time and see who becomes available at the right time.
“Defensively we are in a good position, but in midfield we are light and for striking options we need one more. So we are looking for one in midfield and one forward.”
Mackay was delighted that Meekings agreed to join Brora, saying he is the type of player required to take the next step.
“A lot of work went into it over the last few weeks – it is great to get it over the line and have him on board," the manager said.
“We’ve lacked the big signings as of late, so he will be massive for us.
“It is a statement of our intent for this season. With the disappointment of the play-offs, it felt like we fell a bit short.
"We are looking to recruit the right type of player and mindset, and a leader on the park, and in Josh we have got that.
“We have made it clear our objective is to go and win the Highland League again and try to go one step further in the play-offs.”
Mackay says the play-off defeat against Kelty Hearts was a big lesson for him and everyone involved. He says the team are determined to learn from it and realise their ambition of promotion to the SPFL.
“What the play-offs taught us was we didn’t have experience in our team. We felt like Kelty had an edge on us and we fell short,” Mackay said.
“We need to add experience to the team.
"We have a crop of young players who are talented. We had eight players that were 22 or younger – from a future perspective in what the club has got to look forward to, that is good.
“Kelty had a vastly experienced team that were clear what they wanted to achieve. As a squad, I thought that we were ready to go up, but that was a reality check.”
Meekings played for six years at Inverness, signing in 2011 after coming through the youth set-up at Ipswich Town. He was part of the Caley Thistle team that won the Scottish Cup in 2015, beating Falkirk 2-1 in the final.
