Spartans reveal end-of-season awards as preparation begins for the upcoming season

Ronaigh Douglas was among five players to win an end-of-season award on the weekend as Spartans celebrated a solid campaign.

The 24-year-old signed a new deal at the club just last week just before she won the Player’s Player of the Year after a brilliant season for the club. Versatile as ever, Spartans number nine consistently put in fantastic performances for the club as they finished the season 10 games unbeaten. Centre-back Julianna Ross finished as runner-up for the award after the American made an instant impact at the capital club.

Another winner was Katherine Smart who took home the Supporter’s Player of the Year in her final year at the club. The striker announced her retirement just before the final game of the season as she netted the winner against Glasgow Women. Robyn McCafferty also came away with the Coaches Player of the Year award after signing a contract last week. Finally, captain Alana Marshall took home the Goal of the Year award with her cracking free-kick in a 4-2 win against Hamilton.

The squad are currently on a six-week break and are due back on July 3rd. Preseason preparations are already underway with three games against SWPL opposition lined up. With multiple players signing new contracts over the last month, manager Debbi McCulloch is also hoping to make a couple of signings in the coming weeks.

“It's really important that mentally and physically the players rest,” McCulloch told the Edinburgh Evening News. “It's a long season, it's hard, and it's exhausting at times. At this level, you have to be absolutely obsessed with your football. To be able to have that six-week break is really valuable and gives us important time to prepare for next season.

“Once we return, we have three friendlies organised against Aberdeen, Gartcairn and Boroughmuir and we'll hopefully get a couple of others arranged within the next week or so. Our preparations are looking good are squad is building. This season, we want to build on our success and become more efficient and effective as a team. Last season, we brought in seven new players and that was a huge amount to bring in. We're really happy with where we're at. We'll hopefully have some new exciting signings to announce over the coming weeks.”