Tranent appoint former Hibs striker and coach Colin Nish as new manager

New Tranent Juniors manager Colin Nish has made a new signing on his first day in charge of the Lowland League club.

The former Hibs forward and youth coach signed forward Cammy Ross from Brechin City shortly after being unveiled by Tranent as the successor to Calum Elliot. The former Hearts striker resigned as Tranent boss last week after saying that he had take the East of Scotland champions as far as he could.

Nish, 41, grew up in nearby Musselburgh and is a Hibs fan. He spent a season in charge of Cowdenbeath in 2015/16 when they were in League One and went on to become a full-time youth and academy coach at Hibs. His playing career includes spells at Dunfermline, Kilmarnock, Hibs, Hartlepool United and Dumbarton.

He is joined at Forresters Park by his assistant Steven Hyslop, coach Eck Christie and goalkeeper coach Mark Beveridge. The new coaching team means caretaker Paul Parkin, who was Elliot’s assistant, and first-team coach Fergus Lockhart have now left the club.

Former Hibs striker and youth coach Colin Nish is the new manager of Tranent.

The Lowland League new boys were left shocked by the sudden departure of Elliot, who resigned a week past Tuesday. He had led the club to the East of Scotland Premier Division title last season and managed to navigate through the play-offs to reach Scottish football’s fifth tier. However, tensions arose over the amount of money available to strengthen the squad.

Matthew Wright, director of Tranent’s main sponsor M-PACT and a member of the board at the Foresters Park club, explained last week: “We have really recruited well, we have a strong squad, to be honest we probably have too many numbers, we have a big, big squad and it is challenging to keep them all happy.”

The club had received 10 applications for the vacancy by Tuesday night and moved quickly to install Nish and his new backroom staff. The new manager’s first task may be to trim the squad.

Tranent have made a decent start to the Lowland League. They have 14 points from seven games and are currently in seventh place.

Nish’s first game in charge will be at Falkirk Stadium on Saturday when Tranent travel to take on East Stirlingshire.

Meanwhile, the club have also announced that striker Kyle Lander has retired due to injury at the age of 26. The former Livingston and St Johnstone forward joined Tranent three years ago from Newtongrange Star.