Gary Sibbald delighted to be new Syngenta head coach

Gary Sibbald has been announced as the new manager of Syngenta AFC ahead of the club's entry into the East of Scotland league in 2019.
Gary Sibbald left West Calder for SyngentaGary Sibbald left West Calder for Syngenta
Gary Sibbald left West Calder for Syngenta

Sibbald guided McBookie.com South Division side West Calder United to their best ever points finish last year, gathering 48 in total, and is now taking a step forward in terms of his career path.

Sibbald was offered the job and accepted it on the same day, saying that the club’s ambitions matched his own perfectly.

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“I was the first person that they thought of, which was nice to hear,” Gary said.

“I had a meeting with them on Monday night and they outlined what their thinking is for the senior team and everything they said was what I wanted to hear.

“On Monday night I agreed then and there that I was going to go ahead with it, so it was pretty quick.”

Gary, still only 26 years old, believes that he is now managing one of the most prestigious and well-known boys clubs in Scotland, and hopes to be able to guide them through the transition to the East of Scotland League.

“The reputation that Syngenta have is that they are competitive, which is what I am interested in. I’m not here to finish fifth or sixth, if we are doing it we do it right and the plan is to make the team as successful as possible.”

Sibbald, older brother of Livingston midfielder Craig, believes his work at West Calder helped him secure the move to Syngenta.

“I was there for two years,” he said. “The second season there was my first in charge of any senior team and we managed to gain the highest points the club has had.

“We did that without spending any money on any new player and if certain things had gone differently we would have been right up there at the top of the league at the end of the season.”

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Potentially an even more important factor, though, is the UEFA A license that Sibbald picked up last Friday.

“I have been working on that for over a year so that has helped.

“They know that I can coach to a certain standard, and quite a high standard despite only being 26 years old.”