Martin Rennie (35), the son of former Bettyhill and Altnaharra Church of Scotland minister the Rev Cliff Rennie, is head coach of Cleveland City Stars, a team founded in 2006. They play in the USL Second Division – the third tier league in USA soccer.

Last Saturday the club won the league's play-offs to clinch the championship, defeating the Charlotte Eagles 2-1 in the final.

Martin was born in Thurso but grew up in Bettyhill, where he lived until the age of ten before the family moved to Falkirk.

However, members of the family return to Sutherland often and have friends in Dornoch and Golspie, as well as on the north coast.

Martin Rennie (in white) with the Cleveland City Stars team he coached to success this season.

Martin passed all his coaching exams in Scotland, earning his UEFA A Licence. His assistant coach is former Scottish International, Aberdeen captain and Ross County player Brian Irvine. Brian memorably scored the winning goal in a penalty shoot-out against Celtic in the 1990 cup final. In a television interview, Martin said: "It's a great achievement for Cleveland to win the championship in only its second year, and it has been an outstanding season for the team overall.

"We've got some great players and the standard of play is very high with a lot of national team players in the league. The quality of football on sh ow is getting better and better in the US all the time."

He was also quick to praise the quality of instruction he received in Scotland and recognised the input of Brian Irvine. He said: "There's no doubt that all the coaching qualifications I did in Scotland were a massive help for me in preparing the team. What I learned has been instrumental in the successes we've enjoyed on the pitch. It was also great to have Brian with us. His experience and presence were invaluable."

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