Football: Colin Nish out as Max Christie returns to Tranent Juniors

The Belters moved quickly to make the change after the club’s season came to an end.

A club statement on Tuesday evening said: “Max managed the team back in 2018 before leaving to take up the vacant manager’s post at Bo’ness United.

“Max is well respected at the club and his passion and drive matches that of Tranent FC.”

Nish had already started planning for next season before Tranent decided not to renew his contract.

The Foresters Park side finished fifth in their debut Scottish Lowland Football League season, having been crowned champions of the East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) 12 months ago.

However, less than 24 hours after the curtain came down on the campaign following a 2-1 defeat to East Kilbride in the Lowland League Cup, the club announced it was looking for a new manager.

Colin Nish

A statement said: “The board have taken the difficult decision not to renew Colin’s contract for next season. Not an easy one given our final league position.

“We would like to place on record our thanks to Colin and his team for their hard work throughout the season.”

Nish, who took charge following the departure of Calum Elliot in August last year, had already started working on how to strengthen the squad for next season.

He told Courier Sport: “I was going to get my teeth stuck into next year. We always had the plan, the target, to finish in the top eight and this year we finished third, when you take out the B teams.

“Everything went well this year after taking over mid-season.

“It was difficult to really put down what you wanted but at the same time we did well with what we had. We wanted to improve things to go forward next year.

“The club maybe had a different idea what they wanted to do.”

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— Tranent Juniors (@TranentJRs_FC) May 9, 2023

Tranent were well in the title race until the last few weeks of the season, when defeats to eventual champions Spartans and Stirling University saw Tranent fall away.

However, they regained their composure to pick up a point against East Kilbride on the penultimate day of the season to ensure a fifth-placed finish.

Nish, who previously managed Cowdenbeath, already had “players in mind” for 2023/24.

Goals from Bob McHugh, who played nearly 100 games for Motherwell, and Alan Lithgow, who spent two-and-a-half-seasons in the Scottish Premiership with Livingston, proved the difference on Saturday. Nish, who starred for Hibernian, Dunfermline Athletic and Kilmarnock during his playing career, felt that it highlighted where the club needed to strengthen.

He said: “I just felt we needed certain players in different positions.

“We played against East Kilbride and I thought we were the better football team but thought they were a bit bigger, stronger and more experienced. That happens when you go up levels.

“You have to have a balance between playing football and other things. We were a bit short with the experience side of things.”

Max Christie has returned to Tranent Juniors

The 42-year-old took over from Elliot, who had steered the club to a memorable last-day title win over Penicuik Athletic in the EoSFL Premier Division.

Tranent would then go on to thump St Cuthbert Wanderers, who had won the South of Scotland Football League, 7-0 before surprising West of Scotland Football League champions Darvel 2-0 to move up to the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid.

However, Elliot resigned a few months later after feeling he had taken the club as far as he could and Nish stepped in and steered the club up the table.

The departing manager stressed that there had not been any fallout with the committee at Tranent.

He said: “It takes time to build a winning team.

“The boys did really, really well and I was quite happy with them.”