SALTCOATS Victoria boss Stevie Wilson has hailed the club-wide improvements made since he took charge at Campbell Park.

This week marked one-year since Wilson returned to the hotseat in a bid to turn the Vics' fortunes around.

After navigating through to the end of last campaign, this season has seen vast improvement on the park - with Saltcoats only four points short of their tally for the whole of 2023/24 and 19 games still to play.

However, it has been the major development off the park that Wilson has credited for creating a platform for his squad.

He commented: “It’s not just what the team has done on the park, the club as a whole - off the park - has improved.

“We’re now selling merchandise, we had a near sold out race night at the weekend, our sponsors have more than doubled this year.

“The park is getting far better looked after, the place has all been done up and the gates are up as well.

“Everything has been great and the committee in the background have been outstanding.”

Wilson says that creating this strong relationship between club departments is something he has always found is a key to success.

He added: “For me at any club I go to, I want to get close to the committee so we are all pushing in the one direction.

“I want the players to respect these guys that are helping out too, guys that are steeped in the history of Saltcoats. A lot of boys sign for clubs and they don’t know anything about them.

“Saltcoats is 135 years old, players need to realise we are a very small part of the history of the club.

"What we need to do is make sure when we leave, the club are in a better place than when we arrived.”

The boss was also quick to highlight the strides that have been made in the club's West of Scotland Football League Fourth Division campaign so far.

He continued: “On the park, we have a good, young, fresh squad that are just needing a bit more game time and experience.

“A lot of our defeats have been narrow, I still think we should be handling being in the lead better and seeing out games but I believe with the way we have played we should have more points on the board.”

Up next is the Vics' final home game of the calendar year and a match against currently unbeaten league leaders Knightswood.

Despite the impressive record held by the visitors, Wilson is looking forward to the test that his side will face on Saturday, November 30, with kick off at 1.30pm.

He said: “Playing these top teams, that’s what you want to be involved in. Hopefully at one point we can get ourselves back up there.

“It’s not a fear playing against them, it’s something we are relishing and the boys want to go out and prove a point."