The Glenavon Academy has a new Chairman.

Jason King, who was previously the Academy Manager, takes over from Colin Adamson, who is moving on to a new role within the club.

Speaking to the Glenavon website about his new role, Jason explained that he felt well-placed to take the Academy forward.

“I have been part of the Academy set-up for about nine years and I’m lucky enough to have done every role within the set-up,” he said.

“Gary Hamilton and I have a good relationship so I know what he wants from the Academy.

“My role is to get everybody onto the same page and make sure that the Academy is not a selection of teams, but one large team under the Glenavon umbrella. That’s very much what we want the Academy to be.

“We don’t focus on players playing in certain year groups – they will play wherever their development needs them to be.”

And that, according to Jason, is something that the Academy has always done well.

“We recognise that every player needs to be challenged, some players need to play in older age groups and we don’t hesitate to do that,” he added.

“We aren’t about winning. If we are winning National Leagues then we are doing something wrong because it probably means that we are keeping our best players playing in the one age group and we are sacrificing their development in order to win games. That’s not what our Academy is about.”

Explaining his decision to step aside as Academy Chairman and welcoming Jason into the role, Colin said, “I have moved on now to concentrate more on the ground development side of things.

“The Academy needs a lot of hands-on hours and it has good people and good structures in place.

“Jason is right for the job and the time is right for him to take over to bring some fresh ideas to the table.”

Everybody at Glenavon Football Club wishes Jason and Colin all the best with their new roles.