20. April 2026

Lurgan Blues headed to the championship

Gutted. Everyone at the club is feeling the emptiness of relegation right now, having dropped too many points in the end-of-season split to scrape our way to safety.

To be fair, we probably had no right to be as close as we got to staying up, after a historically dreadful start to the season, a managerial switch, and having to battle back from 12 points out of 2nd last place at the end of January, and 10 pts behind at the end of February.

But the lads soldiered. They guts'ed out wins and draws against teams far higher up the ladder than they through March and April, they battled back to the pack and, going into this weekend, needed a win to scrape out of the automatic relegation place, only to be beaten by an absolute worldie.

But even as we consider the reality that we'll play in the Championship next season, the respect the team and management have drawn from around the league during their battling fightback is something we can hold on to. Though we end the season in last place, this is not a 'last place team'.. in fact, if those first 11 horror games hadn't happened, we'd have finished decently. The way we ended the season earned compliments and respect, and the way the fans came together and supported the squad, even when our chances were slim, is a testament to the people of Lurgan, the community around the club, the sponsors who stepped up all year, the volunteers and staff, and the lads wearing the shirt.

So that happened. Now we get to work.

There will obviously be some change around the club, out of necessity, as we prepare for life at the next level. Our first task is to ensure we retain the best young manager in the country. A lot of football club owners would play their cards close to their chest in doing that, and avoid 'big upping' their man during negotiations, but Michael knows we want him back, the fans want him back, the players want him back, and what would be the point in being dishonest and pretending otherwise?

Publicly, Michael has taken the loss over the weekend hard, and though we all know Glenavon wouldn't have even been in the discussion of staying up if not for his determined work, a man who'll carry the club on his back like that is exactly the sort of man you build a future around, if you can.

There will be changes in the playing squad, again, out of necessity, but dropping down a level will give the club a chance to give opportunities to younger players and academy grads, of which Lurgan produces plenty.

There will be changes at Mourneview. We're hoping for grant money to show up soon, which will kick off work on stadium upgrades, and allow us to build infrastructure that should lead to increased revenues going forward. You'll see improvements to the Blue Zone in the short term, and the website, and some things we're keeping under wraps for a bit. We'll develop our media team (if only so we can watch games on the other side of the world!), our social media strategy, and look to expand the volunteer pool and give experience and opportunities to those looking to develop careers in sports management.

That said, as a company, while we've brought investment money into the club this year, we've already used some of that to pay down some debts and get the club on a more stable financial footing, so we won't be going on a spending spree on our way back up. When we cut a cheque, the first order of business is to ensure that cheque is paying for growth, not a dice roll. Will this purchase make the squad better for the long haul, will it the stadium better for fans, will it earn revenue, and/or will it enhance the fan experience?

When we do go back up, we don't want to scrape in and spend the next several seasons bouncing about, being 'happy to be there', we want that rise to be inevitable, and to continue in seasons to come, through smart development of players, staff, the stadium, and the community around the club.

In the past year, the club made a significant donation to the academy program, and we'll commit to supporting the youth setup further over the coming several seasons, because that fits right inside our growth/future revenue remit.

Our sponsors at Avondale Foods have gone above and beyond this season, financially backing our women's program and giving the club a financial buttress when it needed it most, and we'll build on that commitment to support the women's game.

Beyond that, there's one really important aspect of Glenavon that we circle back to every day, and that's the year 1889.

137 years, that's how long this club has been at the centre of life in Lurgan. As outsiders, we at FIL understand that, though our name is on the office door, our job is to protect this historic institution, first and foremost. Not to muddle on, and not to risk with silly decisions and ego stroking. We've all seen Flash Harry's take over football clubs and drive them into the ground by not listening to the football guys, prioritizing themselves over the fans, and fencing themselves off in the boardroom.

That's not how we do things.

At our last investment club, Altrincham FC, our group stepped in when the club had been hit with consecutive relegations, financial peril, fans ready to burn the stands down, and a squad needing to be rebuilt on the fly.

We absolutely made mistakes, but we focused on slow, steady growth over risky reactions, and took that club back up to the fifth tier, and a whisker from EFL League Two, doing exactly the sort of developmental corrective things laid out above.

Young, progressive management running a young playing squad, focused on local talent, with small infrastructure wins every season, bringing up revenues as we went. That's our model.

We know it hurts right now. But a reset can be a healthy thing.

Let's get to work.

-FIL