New Glenavon owner Cathal Morrison insists the threat of relegation never once put him off investing into the Irish League club – and has outlined Football International Limited’s vision when it comes to player recruitment.

When discussions first started between Morrison’s consortium and the Lurgan Blues, Glenavon seemed destined for the drop, but new manager Michael O’Connor has transformed the club’s fortunes.

Saturday’s 3-0 victory over rivals Crusaders moved the Co Armagh outfit off bottom spot on goal difference and breathed new life into their great escape mission.

Around 24 hours before their trip to Seaview, Glenavon officially confirmed their new ownership with Morrison, who has joined the club’s board, telling the News Letter in an exclusive interview that Football International Limited plan to invest “a minimum of £1million”.

placeholder image — Glenavon's Luke McGerrigan celebrates after his goal against Crusaders. (Photo by Alan Weir/Pacemaker Press)

Morrison insists he always retained belief that Glenavon could get themselves out of trouble – but says the club’s future wouldn’t be at risk even if the worst happened and they suffered relegation.

"It never put us off,” Morrison told the News Letter. “When discussions started, the club were massively adrift.

"If anything, when we stay up, we'll be 18 months ahead of where we thought we would be.

"It's all about making the club sustainable. All of our plans and models were based on the worst-case scenario...we all want the best, but you have to prepare for the worst.

"We're all sensible enough and have been around football enough to know you need a safety net...we always built with a safety net.

"Since Michael O'Connor took charge, it has been nothing short of excellent. You look at the backroom team, Doyler (Andrew Doyle), Fergy (Mark Ferguson), Paul McCrum, Scott (Hughes), these guys have been immense.

"We have brought Conor Falls and Nathaniel Ferris in, those guys have been outstanding, Paul McGovern - you can't pay him any more compliments.

"We have to enjoy Paul when we have him because we're not going to have him for very long.

"I look at Jacob Carney in goal, some of the saves that kid has made has been outstanding. I could go through the whole team.

"I have a belief we will be staying in the Premiership and that belief is running through the veins of the club."

Glenavon have become the latest Irish League club to accept outside investment and with that injection of money often comes an expectation to make a splash in the transfer market.

A number of high-profile players have arrived in the Irish League across recent windows with the landscape changing significantly in terms of financial power.

While Morrison has ruled out being able to compete with the Premiership’s top teams when it comes to wages, Glenavon will be adopting a model of developing young players – continuing a proud tradition at Mourneview Park – alongside shrewd recruitment.

"The money being spent is going to secure the club's future to start with and we will be sustainable,” he added. “Our model for players, while we will look at recruitment, the model for players is we want to start with grassroots and work up.

"We want to develop players. That's not going to happen overnight, so we will be active in the transfer market.

"Our immediate focus is to keep ourselves in the league and then we will sit down with the management, have a meeting and plan for next season.

"It will be a mixture of both, there's some great players in our U18s so they will become professional contracted players, and we will look at the market.

"To compare us to Coleraine and Larne, we will have a very stringent wage structure and we won't be able to compete with them on wages.

"We will choose more carefully where the money goes and we will use our contacts. We have a great reputation of bringing through players people forgot about and making them superstars.”