It will be a summer of seismic change at Crusaders knowing that two of the club’s all-time greats will depart – but with a new era soon dawning, not all change will come with apprehension.
After 19 years, Stephen Baxter will exit the Seaview hotseat as the Crues’ most iconic figure, while one of his talismen-in-chief in Paul Heatley also revealed that he plans to hang up the boots when the 2023/24 season comes to an end.
With three Premiership titles, four Irish Cups, a League Cup and three County Antrim Shields among his honour roll, Baxter inspired the Hatchetmen from relegation to the second-tier in 2005 to the pinnacle of the Northern Irish game once again, and he will have surpassed his 950th game in charge before the end of the league campaign.
He will then take charge in the European play-off semi-final, which Crusaders are a certainty to feature in as they sit fifth-placed and with a top-six billing for the split all but guaranteed, and the perfect send-off for the legendary manager would be success in the play-off Final to allow his successor to start off in the Europa Conference League and open a new chapter on the continental scene.
Fleet-footed Heatley, the menacing forward who has dedicated the last 12 years of his career to the Crues and will turn 37 in the summer, will also aim to revel in the elation of bringing a European buzz to the Shore Road once more and close out his service on a high.
It’s an experienced and close-knit group in north Belfast that includes long-serving stalwarts like Jordan Owens, Philip Lowry, Billy Joe Burns and Jordan Forsythe; lieutenants of Baxter’s who have totally elevated the profile of the club.
That core continues to spur the red-and-black-shirted outfit on, with all five of those named featuring in their 2-0 home victory over Glenavon in which Adam Lecky and Ben Kennedy found the net.
But signs of the next generation breaking through have already been felt – no less than that talented youngster Lewis Barr played his third consecutive full 90 in that win over the Lurgan Blues, during which the team has enjoyed an upturn in results with seven points out of nine.
20-year-old Barr, who was recalled after spending the first half of the campaign on loan at Harland and Wolff Welders in the Playr-Fit Championship and impressed before suffering an injury in a clash with Annagh United in November, has earned rave reviews in that span and offered youthful energy in a side that had lost six of their previous eight ahead of his introduction to the line-up.
On what is just the second time since August that Crusaders have notched up back-to-back triumphs in the league, the talented defender who can impress at left-back and in central defence is prepared to form part of the Crues’ future core and has not been daunted by a step up in class.
The comments sections on social media told a tale, with the triumph over Stephen McDonnell’s side seeing many Man of the Match shouts for the gifted Academy product who is making a name for himself in double-quick time.
Granted, he’d already enjoyed time in the Crusaders first-team in 2022/23, notably in November of that term when he played in four Premiership matches in 15 days, but he returns having boosted his senior pedigree at Blanchflower Park and now looks set to lock down a place in the Crues’ defence.
Barr’s not the only one who’s earned his shot among the ranks, either.
Ryan Donnelly, aged just 16, got first-team minutes in the 2-2 draw with Dungannon Swifts – another game his defensive comrade was highly lauded in – while fellow youngsters Jonathan James and Bradley Maguire have also figured in the fold.
A three-and-a-half-year contract extension for winger Jay Boyd upon his return from a bright half-season loan at Loughgall – he’s unsurprisingly tipped for a big future on the wing – was also music to the ears of the faithful, and that these young guns are being blooded in before the new campaign could be yet another lasting legacy of Baxter’s.
Others like defensive arrival and former Ards ace Adam McAleenan, resurgent striker Stewart Nixon and James Teelan, who’s looked promising on loan with Carrick Rangers and in Crues cameos, also look set to play their parts in the Seaview operation going forward.
Either way, the youth is shining in the spotlight and it’s giving Crusaders the boost they need.
Featured image from INPHO/Stephen Hamilton.
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