Duncan Sinclair has made his first new signings as Arthurlie boss as he begins to plot his side’s immediate promotion back to the Premiership.

The ‘Lie were left with just three players after relegation last season, and with Sinclair only taking over the hotseat late last month, he has been up against it in trying to put together a squad for the new campaign.

The club was forced to release a statement last week after fans grew impatient with the lack of transfer updates, but Sinclair has confirmed there has been plenty of work going on behind the scenes as he enjoyed his first week.

He said: “My first week in the job has been great. I’ve been on the phone constantly trying to get people to come to the club, which we’ve done. That’s 14 players we’ve got signed up now – the three from last season, and 11 new players have signed on the dotted line.

“We’re progressing slowly but we’re in a better place than we were last week. We only had three players so we’ve started reasonably well. We’ve brought in some experienced players with some young local youth players that have been recommended to us too and we’ll see what they can do.”

Sinclair, who has experience of managing in the SJFA West Championship, was tasked with the daunting job of ensuring Arthurlie bounce back from their relegation at the first time of asking. And he’s attempting to do just that by bringing in players who have plenty experience in the league the club now find themselves in.

He added: “We were looking at good experienced junior players who have played in this division, that is what’s important for us. We’ve signed Jamie Docherty from Renfrew FC, Dale McNab from Rutherglen Glencairn and purchased Liam Mushett, Scott Nicol and Josh Payne all from Lesmahagow.

“We can now maybe sit back, take stock and see where we need to improve in certain positions. I need at least 16 good players who have played in this division and we’ve already got a really good youth set up. I’ve been very impressed by the young boys we’ve brought on board for the pre-season sessions and I’m looking forward to working with them.”

While Sinclair is happy to have the players on board and is confident he now has a squad to work with, he refuses to look any further ahead than the club’s first pre-season friendly in two weeks time.

He said: “We’ll not know how good we’re going to be until after our three friendlies if I’m being honest. I’m not going to predict anything until we play games. Training has been great but it’s when you get the ball on the park and start to play you can see who’s organised and who’s not and we’ll do all that during pre-season. I’m only concentrating on the first game on the 14th July.”