JAMIE Barjonas has signed a new deal and Kelty boss John Potter still has more shopping to do before the season kicks off.
The former Rangers midfielder was a stand-out performer as the Fifers ran away with the League Two title and the club aim to move quickly to add more quality to a small squad.
Potter admitted that, when he took over the hotseat at New Central Park, a new contract for 23-year-old Barjonas was a top priority and he was “delighted” to get the deal over the line.
He said: “One of the first things I wanted to do was to go and speak to Jamie.
“I sat with him and his agent for an afternoon and explained about what I wanted to do and the club’s plans.
“I just felt the most important thing for him was to keep playing matches and working on his game. I’m delighted he’s going to stay and do that here.
“It’s a big signing.”
The boss hasn’t met all of his players yet but has spoken to them about his plans ahead of Kelty starting pre-season training tonight (Thursday).
And Potter expects more additions in the days to come: “We’ve only got 12 players signed, that’s all we’ve got so we need to add to the squad.
“There’s no point adding numbers for the sake of it, we’ve got a really good core group but we need to add some more quality as we’re going up a level.
“We’ll take time to hopefully get the right ones in but the quicker we do that, the better.”
Asked about the sales pitch, he said: “I tell them how attractive the club is, what it’s about and where it’s come from.
“It’s very ambitious, they’re constantly trying to improve the stadium and it’s a club on the up.
“It’s part-time football, so it’s different, but you’ve got players maybe not at the end of their career that are thinking about life outside football.
“And you’ve got younger players and loan players that want and need to go out and play games, there are lots of different selling points.
“They can come to a club like Kelty that’s ambitious to keep progressing.”
You’d think League One survival would be progression for Hearts but they remain a club in a hurry and, after back-to-back promotions, they’ve built a winning mentality.
Asked what he’d consider to be a successful season, Potter said: “I genuinely think it’s too hard to gauge right now.
“Once a quarter of the season has gone and we’ve played everyone, it’ll settle down and we’ll see where we’re at.
“There are four full-time teams and some very strong part-time teams that will pay similar amounts to ourselves.
“It’s not all about money but for the first time in a while we’ll not be the biggest club in the league.
“We can still be ambitious but I think this league will be unpredictable and totally different again from last season, when I was in it with Queen’s Park.”
The league fixtures are announced tomorrow and what price a first day meeting against his old club and Fife neighbours, Dunfermline?
He laughed: “Who knows? I know we’ll be at home and it would be a brilliant occasion if it came out like that.
“Kelty against Dunfermline is a game a lot of people will look for but there are a lot of exciting games ahead for us.”
Hearts have pre-season matches at home against Partick Thistle – on Friday June 24 with a 7.45pm kick-off – and Raith on Saturday July 2, kick-off 3pm.
They’ll also play at Warout Stadium against Glenrothes FC on Tuesday June 28, 7.45pm kick-off.
