Banks o’ Dee Chairman BRIAN WINTON’S message to our fans in the wake of our historic GPH Highland League Cup triumph and ahead of our final home league game, against Strathspey Thistle, at Spain Park this coming Saturday.

I will start by thanking all of you for the magnificent backing given to us during this historic season for our club.

It’s difficult to put into words how pleased I am that we were able to reward your loyalty by winning the Highland League Cup.

The cup win is also a huge lift to everyone working on behalf of the club, including the management team and the players.

More importantly, it will be a massive asset as we continue our efforts to eventually achieve our ultimate goal, which is to gain promotion to the Scottish Professional Football League.

It may seem premature speaking of that after just one season competing at Highland League level.

But we have never disguised our ambition to eventually see Banks o’ Dee competing at the highest levels possible in the Scottish game.

We may never get to those levels, but it won’t be for the want of trying.

It certainly won’t happen unless we can show we are able to compete against the very best sides at Highland League level on a consistent basis.

We have taken a lot of pride out of having now won all of the Highland Cup competitions that are open to us, and I can assure you we will be doing all that we possibly can to bring more silverware to Spain Park in the seasons ahead.

But we also want to be among those competing for the league title every year, in the hope that we can eventually do what’s required to create the opportunity to reach the SPFL.

Winning the League Cup will help because it will make us more attractive to any players we may seek to take to our club in the summer.

We are fortunate to already have an excellent group of talented players, but they accept it’s vital to keep the competition for places high to maintain the hunger to do well at the level we are at.

We did that last summer, by adding players who had good experience of the Highland League to those who had done so well for us at Junior level.

Discussions on what we need to do to improve even further are on-going, but it has already been agreed we will need to take in at least another three or four players if we are to build on our cup triumph.

The problem is, we are competing with sides who are already well established in the Highland League, who usually finish in the top four or five places every season, for the best players in this part of Scotland.

It’s up to us to convince those players moving to Spain Park would be the best way to achieve any ambitions they may have.

But we are also happy to widen our net in our efforts to ensure the Dee squad is the strongest it can possibly be.

I’m pleased to confirm that includes taking advice from former Peterhead manager Jim McInally, who has vast knowledge of players from the likes of Angus and Tayside, who could be available and suitable to our needs.

Until recently, Jim was the SPFL’s longest serving team manager and he has a vast array of contacts.

We were a Junior club until a year ago, so it made sense to tap into the experience Jim has of the levels we have a burning desire to be a part of.

The players we already have will be given the opportunity to remain part of our journey.

They earned that right by winning the League Cup at the end of a season when it could have been easy for them to lose focus - and faith.

The well publicised points deduction which ended our hopes of competing for the Highland League title was a huge blow to the morale of everyone at the club.

What happened was outside the control of the players and it would have been easy for their heads to drop and for them to wonder if there was any point of continuing over the rest of the campaign.

Instead, to a man, they became even more determined to make their mark and underline just how talented a group they are.

Ensuring we became the only club, outwith the season when the Highland League Cup was introduced in 1946, to win the competition at the first attempt more than did that.

It’s a huge achievement- right up there with the historic Scottish Junior Cup victory we achieved in 1957 and all of the other successes Dee have enjoyed over the years.

You have to applaud the players for the way they handled what happened and got on with doing the very best they could for our club.

Like I said, it’s thanks to their efforts that we now have a strong foundation to build from as we work towards getting Dee to where we want to be.

That includes continuing to make improvements off the park too.

More seating will be installed at Spain Park during the close season as we endeavour to create a stadium suited to hosting SPFL football.

We will also continue looking to strengthening at committee level.

That includes succession planning as far as my own role is concerned.

That’s something we have been working on for about 10 years now, I accepted long ago that I won’t be Chairman of this great club for ever.

It’s why so many of my own family have become so heavily involved too, at various levels.

The hope is some of them will choose to pick up the baton when we decide change at the very top is needed for the club to continue to thrive.

The history of football is full of clubs who were successful for short periods while being driven on by certain individuals who then struggled when that person left.

We are determined that won’t happen to Banks o’ Dee, which is why we are always keen to welcome new people at board level, to feed off their fresh ideas and encourage their desire to be successful.

That’s not me saying I’m considering leaving anytime soon.

I’m proud to be the Chairman of this club and the fire in my belly is still burning as strong as it was the day I arrived.

I just wanted to make sure, ahead of what will be our final home game of the season, that you are aware of how determined we are to prove winning the League Cup was just the next step along the road to where we really want our club to be at.