IT'S normal practice for many football managers to bring members of their backroom staff and players with them when they move clubs but Sons manager Stephen Aitken took things a stage further by bringing the club's chaplain with him when he left his role at Stranraer FC.

Reverend John MacGregor has a lifelong love of football and knows the game better than most men of the cloth. As a youngster he had dreams of a career on the football field and spent time at Hamilton Academical and Svendborg FB in Denmark. On his return from Scandinavia he spent a brief spell at Dumbarton FC playing for the under-21s. When he realised he wasn't going to fulfill his footballing aspirations he turned to successfully running his own retail business. But after answering a calling to the church and becoming a Reverend, John was unexpectedly thrown back into the dressing room environment.

John, a minister at Hillington Park Church in Glasgow, was appointed club chaplain at Stranraer FC while Stephen Aitken was manager there and they got on like a house on fire.

After three successful years managing at Stranraer FC, Stephen made the move to the Rock and as most managers do he decided to ask valued members of the staff to join him. Among those on his hit list was Reverend MacGregor.

The Reverend said: "I think this is a first for Scottish football and it came about from a mixture of a few things. Almost every club in Scotland has their own chaplain but Stephen realised that Dumbarton didn't have a chaplain and we had a chat and he told me he was interested in taking me along. The team trains at Benburb Juniors' Tinto Park and it's only five minutes along the road from me.

"My role is about relationships – I've got a fully open door if any of the players or other staff have any issues they want to talk about. I think that having been a young lad chasing the dream of being a footballer I know some of the things that they face. It can be lonely and a challenge if you're sitting on the bench for example."

The reverend enjoyed his conversations with Christian Nade during his short spell at the club and he was also surprised to find that he had played football with current Sons striker Donald McCallum's dad.

Sons' manager Aitken is happy the Reverend took up the offer. He said: "Chaplains don't usually change clubs but we had a good relationship and he is a smashing guy. He gets on well with all the players and comes around to training. It certainly helps in the football environment that he understands the game a bit. Broadly speaking we hope our players don't have to use the chaplain services but football is a release for some players and if they are having any issues they might not want to come and speak to the manager about it."

The Reverend was educated for a time at Kier School and he also conducted the funeral of former captain Gordon Lennon, who died after being electrocuted in a car crash just weeks after leading The Sons to promotion from Division 2 seven years ago.

He has mutual admiration for the man who brought him to the Rock. He admitted: "I admire the passion that Stephen Aitken and the players show and you have to accept that sometimes that language is part and parcel of what goes on."