There has been a fair bit of recent  pre-season activity with development squad and under 21 players. Liam Bain and Jason Coyle of the under 21's have been loaned out to FC Stoneywood for the coming season and Aidan Elrick from the under 19 development group has been loaned to Hillhead. These remain Formartine players and the purpose is to ensure that they get regular football to supplement the relatively small number of age group games available over the season.

In the other direction, Atholl Cadger jnr has been called up to the first team squad. It's good to see this level of activity in the development side - a sure sign of a healthy club providing clear evidence that our overall policy is not all about buying in talent but is grounded in a firm commitment to developing home grown talent.  Young Atholl is a good example of this - having had a few games at a relatively young age while we were in the juniors and progressing via the development teams to a position where he has earned promotion to the first team squad where the experience of competing for a striking berth and playing alongside able and experienced front men like Kaiser, Baggie and Alex Notman is likely to bring him even further forward in his development .

Welcome and best wishes for a successful future with the club to Michael McTavish. Michael (18), formerly of Colony Park Boys' Club, has signed a 2 year contract and is eligible to play for the Under 19 Development Squad.

Formartine's pre-season efforts have given them a decent work out: after a 7-1  win against Rothie Rovers and a hard worked but well deserved 4-3 against Carnoustie Panmure [recent former winners of Scottish Junior Cup],they ventured South of the Border to tackle South Shields and Consett. in successive days.  They lost both games  [3-1 and 4-1] but have learned in the process. According to reports recieved they gave a good account of themselves with young Atholl Cadger taking the eye up front. but lacking pace at the back, they were at times, exposed there.

 The trip gave great opportunity for team bonding, showed strengths as well as weaknesses and forms a firm foundation for next week's opener, at home against Brora Rangers.

Season tickets for season 2010/11 are now available.

The prices are £110.00 [standard, adult]

                    £60.00  [OAP, student and other concessions]

For those who are interested in becoming a season ticket holder for the first time, an open house will be held on the morning  [10a.m. - 12-30pm] of our first home game against Brora on  31/7/10.  If you can turn up to this not only can you purchase a season ticket, but also try out the view from the position of the available seat of your choice. Existing season ticket holders can retain their seats if they chose. They will be contacted directly by the club.

You will find an application form on this site by clicking on club and then going to Tickets 2010. You can complete it and e-mail it to corporate.fufc@btinternet.com.

 You can also enquire further at the same address where you can get information about a range of sponsorship opportunities such as access to sponsors' lounge, corporate events, match day and match ball  sponsorship and more.

Herewith details of pre-season friendlies. Accurate as of 5/7/10.  You will be aware that because of groundworks in connection with SFA application, all of these are away fixtures.

Sat 10th Jul '10		Rothienorman	Friendly	2:00pm
Sat 17th Jul '10		Carnoustie Panmure	Friendly	3:00pm
Wed 21st Jul '10		Hall Russell United	Friendly	7:00pm
Sat 24th Jul '10		Consett AFC	Friendly	3:00pm
Sun 25th Jul '10		Morpeth Town	Friendly	11:45am

Midfielder, Patrick Vigurs has been sold to Inverurie Locos. There was a fee involved but this has not been disclosed.

Here is a brief summary of the Agm held on Tuesday night

At last night's  [29/6/10] AGM, the Club decided to raise ordinary admission charges to £7.00 [Concessions £4.00] but also to end the £1.00 supplement for stand admission - hence the cost of admission to ground and stand combined remains at £7.00.  A knock on effect is that season tickets are now fixed at £110.00 [£60.00 concessions]

Remember that cup games [such as they are without SFA membership] are not included in season ticket prices because gate receipts have to be split with the visiting side and are calculated on a head count. This is standard practice more or less throughout Scottish Football.

Central defender James "Sivvy" Seivewright has been transferred to Culter FC for an undisclosed fee.

After a recount, prompted by an unknown SHFL fan from Elgin it is now confirmed that Barry Somers is joint top scorer in Highland League for Season 2008/9. His superb hat trick  in the abandoned game against Strathspey [one with the left, one with the right and one with the head] had been deducted twice from his total [at the time and at the end of the season].  He was therefore due 3 goals on his total. That has now been done and he shares the award. Congratulations!