THE chairman of Sauchie is calling on the local community to provide support as they move away from the junior football format next season.

It has been announced that the club will leave the junior leagues in order to play in the East of Scotland league which will give the club the opportunity to one day play in the Scottish professional ranks should they reach that stage.

The move comes as 99 of the 158 junior clubs in Scotland voted to leave juniors for the pyramid set-up, leaving the format in disarray.

Noel Dalli, who took on the chairman role last summer, insists it is best interests of the club to make the switch now.

He told Advertiser Sport: “We decided to join the exodus. It gives us a chance to develop as a club as there is an U20s league.

"We only have U19s and the jump up was too big, so this will help. We have to apply to enter that in the next few days but that is the plan.”

Noel added that the move was not the club’s first choice, adding that he would have liked to have had the opportunity to join a combined league next season.

He continued: “I would have preferred to move to a mix of the east and west super leagues but it wasn’t to be, so this was best. We have been very consistent in the Super League apart from a blip this year.”

Although the move will mark a development opportunity for the club, Noel is realistic with his ambitions.

He said: “We are not daft enough to think we will win the league, but if we can just consolidate then that would be a good start.

“We are not the wealthiest club in the world either, so we are hoping that people from the local community will come out and support us to make sure that we’re okay financially.”

The chairman also added that he is not worried about the recent departures of manager Fraser Duncan and skipper Brian Morgan.

He said: “We want to be constantly improving regardless but I think we will be just fine [without them].

“We should have something to announce in the next couple of days with regards to the manager as well.”