Newry City Athletic Football Club are delighted to announce the appointment of Barry Gray as first team manager on a long term deal.

Selected following a competitive recruitment process, Barry returns to the club having previously worked with our underage teams and brings a wealth of experience, having managed at the top level with both Cliftonville and Warrenpoint Town.

Speaking to the club media team Barry Gray commented:

“It’s great to get things finalised and the formalities over. We have a tough challenge ahead and I am under no illusions how tough it is to get off the bottom of the table in such a competitive league.

“I am looking forward to getting in and working with the players, a lot of them I have worked with before or I am familiar with already.

“My job is to try and secure Newry’s premiership status with whatever it takes to do so. The players no doubt are a little low on confidence at the minute and struggling for form, but this is an opportunity for everyone to reset and focus on a fresh start.

“We have a lot to do in the coming weeks and months, we will prioritise the most appropriate games and concentrate on raising standards and performance levels.

“We have good players here and performances may have been lower than expected but now is the time to stand up and be counted. We will get to work right away and hopefully see performance levels and results improve quickly.”

Club Chairman, Martin McLoughlin added:

“Firstly let me give a warm welcome to Barry Gray.

“Barry comes to us at a time when we need someone to lead us out of the difficult spell we have been going through and someone who can restore the confidence that has been lacking of late within our squad.