‘Privilege to be at Coleraine’ – Deane

COLERAINE goalkeeper Gareth Deane admits contract negotiations were “plain sailing” after he extended his stay on the Ballycastle Road…

The shot stopper put pen-to-paper on a three-and-a-half-year contract extension that will see him remain at The Showgrounds until the end of the 2024/25 campaign.

Speaking to colerainefc.com, the 27-year-old insists everyone involved with the club is “brilliant” and the atmosphere on a game day makes things easier as a player.

“I’m absolutely delighted to stay,” he said.

“It’s been in the pipeline in the last few weeks, and after speaking to Oran, it was pretty plain sailing.

“It’s great to get it done and I’m looking forward to another great three-and-a-half years here.

“It’s easy coming down here as the fan base is top class, the manager, all the boys and everyone around the club are brilliant.

“When Oran spoke to me about extending my stay, I was more than happy to put pen-to-paper and get it done.

“The decision was made easy by the club and especially having the fans back in, the buzz on a matchday is excellent.”

The Deane family are expecting the birth of a child next year and the Lisburn native revealed that they may make a move to the North Coast in the near future.

“Football is a privilege to play and it’s a privilege to be at a club like Coleraine,” he continued.

“My wife loves it down here, she was probably one of the main reasons why I came to Coleraine and hopefully in the future we might move down here permanently.

“Speaking to Oran, it is something we have discussed as a family as we are expecting a new arrival in May.

“We will never know where it takes us.”

Deane, who joined the club at the beginning of the 2020/21 season, has registered 25 clean sheets from 50 appearances so far and acknowledged that he wants to add to that impressive tally.

Furthermore, the ex-Carrick Rangers loanee has targeted adding to his medal collection on the Ballycastle Road.

“Before I came, I spoke in depth about winning and the club have recently tasted success in the Irish Cup and League Cup,” he added.

“If we can get a good result in the semi-final against Warrenpoint, then we’ve got a chance to add to that.

“I think we are flying under the radar in the league with the full-time teams as it’s hard for us boys as we are working 9am to 5pm and then coming to play a game, whilst they have all day to prepare.

“I think last Friday night was a good indicator of what we are as a club and hopefully it’s more of the same going forward.

“Hopefully I can keep doing my job and keep the ball out of the net.

“We had a good stat with the clean sheets at home and unfortunately it was broken against Larne but hopefully we can start another one.

“At the end of the day, if we do our job on the pitch and the fans do theirs off the pitch, we don’t know where it could take us.”