Yoker Athletic manager Steven Reilly will remain in charge of the club after talks with the committee last week.

Reilly’s backroom staff will also stay on after the club was relegated to the Central District First Division.

But the Whe-Ho boss was delighted to continue at the helm.

He said: “The committee have shown faith in us. Me, Graeme and Gary are going to continue to take the team next season. There was no way we were going to walk away and leave the situation as it was.

“I think if we can keep the majority of the squad we won’t be far away next year. I think if the bulk of the squad stay and we get some fresh faces in we’ll be in a good position to challenge for promotion next season.”

Work is already well under way to retain last year’s squad as Yoker look to bounce straight back to the First Division.

Reilly added: “We’ve had interest in Ryan Hynes, Ken Allan and Liam Campbell. Michael Bailey is the main one, he’s away to Queen’s Park.

“We managed to tie down Ryan Hynes on Wednesday night, he had six offers elsewhere. That’s a major boost for the club because he was our top goalscorer and was excellent last season.

“Hopefully other players will see that and follow suit. Gary Bissland, Andy Campbell, Mark Wilson have re-signed and we’re in talks with Richard Henry and Kerr Allan. Those two were great as well last year so it’ll be a boost if they stay.

“We’re also in talks with Greg Maitland and David Crerand.”

The manager hopes his side can be more consistent throughout the year.

He said: “It’s important that we put a stamp on the league from the off and show purpose in what we’re doing. The issue during my time at Yoker hasn’t been the way we’ve started, we always seem to start well, it’s been that we’ve tailed off after Christmas.

“But I’ve every faith that the squad we’ll have will go and do their job properly and apply themselves throughout the season, and hopefully we can give the club something back next season, because we feel like we’ve let it down.

“That’s the reason a lot of the guys are staying on, they feel they’ve let themselves and the club down and want to rectify it.”