Warriors in the Community, Stenhousemuir FC’s award-winning community arm, is delighted to announce a number of operational staff changes designed to enhance, grow and lead the programmes over the coming weeks and months. 

Fiona Kennedy has been appointed as the Club’s first Community Engagement & Inclusion Officer.  Fiona will lead on the overall management of the club’s football and non-football Warriors in the Community programmes, whilst also looking after the finance and administration of this important part of the club’s activities. 

Fiona brings a wealth of experience in the third sector and will play a leading role in the establishment of a full charitable wing of the football club that will ensure we continue to play a leading role in supporting our local community. 

We are also pleased to announce that Danny Newbigging, has been appointed as the new Head of Community Football. 

Danny has been a part of Warriors in the Community since 2016 and was most recently the club’s Football Development Officer.  In his new role, Danny will manage, coordinate and oversee all football programmes within Warriors in the Community whilst also leading on our various initiatives with our local schools and supporting partners. 

Bailey Hanlon joins the team and will take responsibility for our girls’ football programmes, and will also lead on the operational management and delivery of our adult programmes.  Bailey will also provide delivery support to various community select teams within the Warriors in the Community programme. 

Bailey will work alongside Declan Kidd, who has been a part of our programme delivery for a number of years.  Declan will lead on the pre-school and Young Maroons programmes and provide delivery support to community select teams.  Both Bailey and Declan will deliver their duties as Senior Community Coaches. 

Iain McMenemy, Chairman of Stenhousemuir said, 

“The last 16 months or so have been a tough time for everyone.  Whilst we were at times prevented from delivering our community football programmes, as a club we always strived to be there for our community.  Our community team led from the front throughout the pandemic, and we are also grateful to the parents of our young participants who continued to support the club. 

“Now that we are able to resume our programmes with a degree of normality, we have restructured to ensure that we continue to build our programmes, including our football and non-football activity, as we strive to be the best we can be. 

“We continue to face some challenges and many covid protocols remain in place, but we are most definitely making progress as society exits the lockdown.  Not only do we have our young people back training, but we can welcome parents and family members back into the ground. 

“As we continue to rebuild out of the pandemic, we intend to focus on a number of key areas including ensuring a consistent delivery across all programmes, developing our coach training and accreditation, and devoting additional resource to our girls’ programmes. 

“We are of course also working towards the establishment of our own club charity, and this will also be a key priority over the coming weeks and months. 

“I’d like to congratulate our Warriors in the Community staff on their new appointments and look forward to working with them as we continue to deliver for our community.”