Brian Welsh, our Head of Youth Development, is off to pastures new later this month, but will leave behind good memories of his time at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium.

'Welshy' is preparing to move lock, stock and barrel from his current base in Dalgety Bay to start a new life in the USA with his wife and children.

The former Hibs and Dundee United defender has secured a new coaching position with a large Youth Football Club in Virginia, and will be jetting across the Atlantic to live the American dream on February 15.

His departure is undoubtedly a big blow to our vital youth development efforts, however Brian believes that the hard work he's put in over the last two and a half years will continue to pay dividends.

"When the new owners came in and I joined the club, the whole youth system had to be started again from scratch," he explained.

"We were lucky to have a decent group of Under 19 players, but we lost a lot of good players at the younger age groups because of the position the club was left in.

"We're in a lot better shape now from a structure point of view and that's a pleasing thing.

"While I might be moving on, I know that there's a real passion and commitment to youth football at board level and I'm sure that whoever takes over from me will get a lot of support."

Brian is keen to stress that his decision to seek a new challenge is primarily motivated by his family.

His eldest son Daniel, a former Livi player, has been Stateside for a year, working through a scholarship in Baltimore. Another son, Michael is due to move to the University of Rhode Island later this summer.

"The move has been planned for a while but I've only just received my visa to go over there, and everything is moving quite quickly," he said.

"Family is the most important thing for me and this way I'll be able to try something different and be a bit closer to Dan and Michael. The quality of life over there is fantastic and that will benefit the whole family including my wife and youngest son Christopher.

"It's a life changing decision, and while I'll be sad to leave Livingston and Scotland, I'm really looking forward to getting over there and getting settled."

As well as rebuilding the Youth Aacdemy structure at the club, Brian has coached the Under 19 team to two league championships and two Youth Cup semi finals in his two full seasons with the club.

He's also seen the likes of Kyle Jacobs, Marc McNulty and Stefan Scougall move on into the first team.

"As I said, I've enjoyed my time at the club and have taken a lot of satisfaction from seeing some of our young players grow and develop. They need to keep working hard and if they can do that then there's no reason why the first team can't be packed with home grown players in the future.

"If I had to pick out highlights, though, I'd probably have to say the games when we put Hibs and Aberdeen out of the Youth Cup.

"Considering both have well established youth systems beating them away from home was a massive achievement."

Brian has one last big Youth Cup occasion to tackle with his side before he departs, when Dundee United come to the Stadium for a quarter final clash on Wednesday.

Shortly afterwards he'll say goodbye to his players and the club as a whole.

"I've been lucky to work with some fantastic young players, all of whom have had a great attitude. I'd like to thank them for all their efforts, and everyone else who has contributed to a good couple of years.

"Our scout Jim McArthur has done, and will continue to do, a great job and there are plenty of others working away in the background who have been a massive help - people like Leigh [Robertson], Nicola [Forrest] on reception and all the coaches.

"It goes without saying that I wish the club all the best."