Stephen Baxter agrees new three-year deal to remain as Crusaders boss

Stephen Baxter's new deal will mean he spends 20 years in charge of Crusaders Credit: Pacemaker

Crusaders manager Stephen Baxter has agreed a three-year contract with the club until June 2025.

If he sees out the duration of the deal it will take his time in charge of the north Belfast side to 20 years.

He said it was an easy decision to make to continue his tenure at the club.

Baxter guided Crusaders to the Irish Cup this season after a dramatic comeback against Ballymena.

“I am really pleased that the club are in a good position and going forward we have really good plans as to where we want to try and get to,” Baxter told the Crusaders website.

“When things like this comes around it is very easy to put together.

“My relationship with the club here over a long period of time has been so easy and contracts are discussed and talked about in five minutes between us and it makes it so easy when you work with really good people and I have that at board level working with Ronnie, Tommy and Mark and all the other guys that have have been so easy to work with over the years dating back to Jim Semple and John Mairs so all of that has been a pleasure to work with.

Crusaders beat Ballymena to lift the Irish Cup

“When you have a strong board with good structures behind them and know the ethos of the club and what they are looking for it makes my job easy and when I know what they want and the type of establishment we are trying to build here it's great so I am delighted to get it done and as I say we have been having a quick chat around it over the last week or so and it was only a matter of getting the formalities worked out and it only took a few minutes to do it”

Chairman Ronnie Millar added: “Stephen signing is absolutely fantastic. It was no brainer because at the end of the day Stephen has produced the goods both as a player and manager for such a long time.

“The service he has given this club and the trophies he has brought here has been wonderful. It was very easy dealing with Stephen over the contract talks and especially after winning the Irish Cup and we have the best manager in the country by far”

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