A DEDICATED coach and fundraiser has been presented with a top award at his football club.

Michael Windram has been a member of Musselburgh Windsor Football Club for more than a decade.

During that time, he has been heavily involved in coaching the girls’ under-11, under-13 and under-15 teams and now focuses on the under-18 age group.

Now, he has been presented with the John Murray Shield in recognition of his commitment to the club.

The late John Murray was one of the founding members of the Scottish Youth FA and was a chairman at Musselburgh Windsor in the 1980s and 1990s.

For more than 20 years, the club have annually presented a shield in his name for people who have made a special contribution to the club.

Mr Windram said: “This is a very proud moment for me and I feel honoured to have won the clubs most prestigious award.

“When you look at the legends at the club that have won the award in previous years shows just how special this award is.

“I couldn't have done this without the backing of my family and the amazing group of girls and supportive parents, I have the pleasure of coaching every week and of course the backing of the clubs board.

“The girls section has gone from strength to strength during the 18 years since established at Windsor and we are looking forward to season 2023 under the new leadership of my daughter Sam who has taken over the reigns as head coach at the 18s.

“Thank you to those who nominated me for this award and this is definitely one of the highlights of my coaching Journey with Musselburgh Windsor FC."

Allied with his coaching, Mr Windram was recognised as one of the most proactive fundraisers at the club, which is one of the largest youth clubs in Scotland and this year celebrates its 70th year since being founded by Joe Brown.

Through his time-consuming and persistent pursuit of improvement for all the girls, he has attained numerous sponsorship deals with companies and charities across the central belt.

In 2017, Mr Windram was a guest at the Scottish FA Grassroots awards and collected the volunteer of the year in girls' and women's football from Scottish footballing legend Kenny Dalglish.

However, it was not until recently that he finally joined the illustrious winners of the John Murray Shield.

At the end of the season, Windram’s young starlets had secured their third consecutive league title, bagged their fourth South East Region League Cup win, and made history by winning the Scottish Women’s football WF Scottish Cup after a thrilling extra-time win against Drumchapel United.

Scott Robertson, president of the club, addressed the club members and said that Mr Murray would have been proud of the latest achievements.

Mr Murray's niece Nicky Scally said: “On behalf of John's family I would like to express our appreciation to Musselburgh Windsor for continuing to remember and honour John in this way.

“The whole family are incredibly grateful.”