LIAM Muir has become St Cuthbert Wanderers’ third signing of the summer. The Creetown midfielder has joined Stranraer’s Roddy Cooksley andWigtown’s Stuart Cluckie in signing for the St Mary’s Park side. But while manager Jim McCrossan was hopeful of signing another two players this week, he looks set to lose as many as four members of last year’s squad. He told the News: “Liam is another cracking signing for us and he’ll give us a wee bit of extra quality. He seems really up for it. “I talked to him before training on Monday. I was impressed with what he had to say and he was impressed with what I had to say. “He’s looking forward to playing in the Scottish Cup. “He’s always caused us problems when he’s played against us. He’s got great natural ability, he’s got good ball skills and he’s a goal threat. “We’ve added a fair bit of quality already. But we’ve lost Johnny Nichol, Adam Kassim and Ben Hutton who is going to America on a football scholarship. “Johnny was finding it hard to travel from Glasgow through work commitments. A club came in for him and offered a fee which we’ve accepted. A lot of factors contributed to it so it was easier for him to play up the road. “Gary Redpath is trying to find a club up the road because of the travelling aspect so we’ll see what develops there.” Saints started pre-season training on Monday night and play their first friendly on July 13 when they face Morton Thistle. July 16 sees them play Gala Fairydean’s under-19s before they take part in a three team tournament with Glenafton and Ayr United on July 23. McCrossan said: “I phoned them up on the off chance and they realised we were the team that beat Fraserburgh in the Scottish Cup and they invited us into their tournament. It helped us and if everything goes well we’ll hopefully be invited back again.” Meanwhile, work is continuing off the park in a bid to meet SFA club licensing criteria that will see Saints retain their status as a full member club. McCrossan has expressed concerns that recent changes in the way Scottish football is run could see the club miss out on the chance to compete in the Scottish Cup and they are taking steps to ensure it doesn’t become an issue. “We’ve got plans that meet the SFA criteria,” he said. “It’s not set in stone that we’ll not be able to become a licensed club and retain our membership. “Well see what the guy says when he comes and hope we can meet it because we’ve taken steps to get there with the funding we’ve had. “Obviously Threave are a bit further forward than us but we hope we won’t be too far away by the end of this year.” | 
