Portadown Football Club is today delighted to announce manager Matthew Tipton has signed a new full time 5-year extension which will keep him at Shamrock Park until the summer of 2026.

Matthew, 40, was appointed Portadown manager in February 2018 and has driven significant improvement in the Club’s fortunes since then, guiding the Club to the Bluefin Sport Championship title last season seeing Portadown return to the top tier of Irish League football after a three year absence.

In Matthew’s 3 years at the club he has placed a big emphasis on the progress of players coming through the Portadown Youth system and offering a pathway to the first team squad with no fewer than 18 players who progressed through either the youth, Under 20s or both systems going on to be involved in senior matchday squads during Matthew’s time at the club with quite a number of those making their competitive first team debuts.

Matthew, along with the Portadown youth coaches, has also overseen several young players progressing through the system at the club to make their first team debuts before going on to full time football in England, most notably Harry Anderson & Gerard Storey to Portsmouth & Dane McCullough to Burnley.

Matthew’s appointment on a full time basis will see the club aiming to reinforce its presence within the community through schools, Portadown Ladies and Portadown Youth and making the club a hub of the community.

Matthew Tipton had the following to say on his contract extension

“It goes without saying I’m delighted that the club has seen fit to reward myself with this deal.

I’m more impressed in the vision that the board is showing & the way that they see the club moving forward. This ambition & foresight is what attracted myself & David to the club just over 3 years ago & has only intensified since we’ve been here. Whilst I’m loathed to talk about journeys I feel that we are on the start of something special with this young squad & I want to develop the whole club into a more professional setup.

The fact I’m now going to be full time & based at the ground on a daily basis will also help to build better relationships with businesses, schools & the general public of Portadown & the surrounding areas.
I want to place on record my appreciation to all of the players & backroom staff who are helping to move us all forward & putting up with my constant demands to improve.

Finally to the fans who have supported the club through thick & thin we can’t wait to get you back in the stadium with hopefully something to cheer.”

Chairman David Jameson & Vice Chairman Paul Jackson added

“With this being our first season back in Premiership we believe we should build for the long term future.

Matthew (Tipton) worked successfully with us as we worked on an extremely tight financial budget and with future ground developments currently being fully explored to include a new home grandstand, creating a community hub, moving the main pitch and building a new 3g training area for all we feel that securing Matthew on a 5 year full time contract goes hand in hand with our long term vision and plans for Portadown Football Club.

Most importantly however we want to compete on the field of play and build a team capable of returning the club to winning silverware, to that end we as a board firmly believe we have the Manager in place and we wanted to extend his deal with a full time 5 year contract and were delighted that we had that deal signed on Friday past.

As we draw to a close this season we all hope that the faithful supporters will return in increased numbers ready and willing to support Matthew and the senior team.”