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CURRENT SEASON'S ARCHIVE page |
10 to 14 July, 2003
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10 to 14 July, 2003
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Blyth Spartans have signed Steve Widdrington from Frickley Athletic.
The NLP (and other papers) have stories about today's wedding between Alty winger, Dave Gardner (right), and ex-Hollyoaks actress, Davinia Taylor at Chelford. David Beckham is joint Best Man with Phil Neville, whilst the Beckham sons are the pages. Dave, now 27, played with Neville and Beckham in United's youth team. Dave's "other job" is as partner in the Elite Sports Agency with Jason Ferguson, son of Sir Alec. OK Magazine has exclusive rights to the wedding but the NLP, which pictures Gardner in action for Alty, says that the wedding guests will include "Gardner's UniBond team-mates. Alty top-scorer Rod Thornley will be among them".
All Alty's pre-season games are listed here.
According to the website of Skelmersdale United, "Jordan Burke (seen, right) who signed from Altrincham towards the end of last season is back in training. The highly talented midfielder made his debut for Skem against Warrington Town at Whitemoss Park on March 8th but unfortunately injured his foot 20 minutes into the game and didn’t feature for the remaining 10 games. He is well liked in footballing circles, and could be an excellent addition to the squad".
Worksop Town's official site reports that "Steve Ludlam [the manager] was delighted with the progress that had been made, not only at the training sessions but also the quick gelling of the players which will give the team a brilliant team spirit... Valuable defender Ryan Ludlam has unfortunately picked up a ham-string injury during the summer and... he will be out for possibly 3-4 weeks. Goalkeeper, Dave McCarthy, travels to the USA this week-end for his annual coaching of American players and will be away for three weeks, returning on 3 August. This will give an opportunity for new signing Ian Bowling to state his presence in the Tigers’ goal". Former Northwich man Andy Brownrigg and Ben Walker are two trialists currently with Worksop.
The NW Evening Mail confirms that Barrow is another club with a number of trialists who will figure in pre-season: "The AFC chief said last night: 'There will be three or four trialists appearing... I would expect Ian Stevens to play, Scott Brough is back training with us at the moment as is James Cotterill (ex-Scunthorpe defender) and there is the possibility of another couple of players turning up on Saturday'".
The Southport Visiter confirms that "Former Port hero Shaun Teale is poised to make a sensational return to Haig Avenue. Teale, who pulled off an outstanding victory in the FA Trophy final as player-manager of Burscough last season, is due to report for training next week". Manager Mike Walsh told The Visiter: "Shaun discussed the possibility of joining our training and we will see where that goes. Shaun will be with us purely as a player and we will discuss terms".
This is Lincs says that "Gainsborough Trinity have refused to reveal which trialists will be included for their pre-season trip to Goole Town tomorrow (3pm). Officials at the Blues are keeping their identity a secret to avoid alerting rival clubs over their transfer targets". But manager "Mitchell will not get the chance to run the rule over the trialists himself as he is currently on holiday with assistant Peter Rinckavage in Turkey. He has handed team affairs to former Lincoln United coach Paul Tittcomb... One player who won't be involved will be new striker Carl Alford. The former Yeovil man, who penned a two year deal last Friday, has been overcome with a bout of dysentery and hasn't trained all week".
Lancaster City, according to Lancaster Today "have moved all but one of their pre-season games away from Giant Axe after being told to keep off the grass. Intensive work on the pitch by the club's newly appointed groundsman means that planned warm-up games against Clitheroe and Welsh side Cefan Druids have been changed to away fixtures... New groundsman Carl Horrax has been hired to work on the pitch for 20 hours a week and has devised a major programme of works to rejuvenate the surface. Mr Horrax works for sportsturf specialists European Turf, who have undertaken work at Manchester United's Old Trafford".
IC Liverpool states that "Marine last night signed veteran Southport striker Steve Whitehall. The 36-year-old had been released by the Sandgrounders... 'Steve will bring goals to the team, and he will also be able to greatly help the less experienced players in the squad'", said manager Roly Howard. "Also joining Marine was 20-year-old striker Ian Johnson, a team-mate of Whitehall's at Southport last season".
Help is still required to complete the preparatory work at Moss Lane this weekend, so if you can spare some time on either Saturday or Sunday (from 1030am), please come along to Moss Lane.
Relegated Hyde have re-signed former Alty reserve striker Lee Evans. Manager Steve Waywell is confident for the new season, saying, "The club wants to get back where it belongs - it’s a lovely set-up and the crowd is second to none".
Alfreton's website reports that winger Ryan France's expected move to Coventry City has fallen through. France "had come through a medical and been offered and agreed terms but after months of speculation and talks, an agreed package deal between the two clubs was watered down by the Nationwide First Division club and the Reds pulled the plug on the move...Chairman Wayne Bradley added: "The club declined the offer as Alfreton Town’s valuation of the player is greater than that of Coventry City’s". The club's Director of Football added: "Ryan is still our best prospect and it is wonderful to be able to keep him - even if it may only be for a short while. He has come straight back into training and is raring to go"- Town's first league game will be at home to Altrincham.
The BBC report that "Leigh RMI have named former Nottingham Forest midfielder Phil Starbuck as their new assistant-manager. Starbuck will work alongside ex-Sheffield United team-mate Mark Patterson at Hilton Park....The 34-year-old is also to register as a player with Leigh". Starbuck was sacked as manager of Hucknall Town last month.
The Spennymoor website reports that manager "Alex Mathie has added to the recent signings of former Sunderland midfielder Carl Shippen and ex York City defender Gary Hobson with 2 more experienced players. They are ex Burnley forward Tony Shandran and Nick Richardson formerly of Harrogate Town. Players released are, Mark Foster who has rejoined neighbours Bishop Auckland... and Tony Woodhouse who has joined Blyth Spartans. Stephen Hutt and Stephen Bell will not be retained for next season".
The UniBond League confirms that Rudi Coleano has moved from Wakefield & Emley to Farsley Celtic.
UniBond champions Accrington Stanley have renamed their Crown Ground as The Interlink Express Stadium, their website confirms. The name is part of a "three year ground sponsorship deal worth five figures". Above, Barry Shuttleworth nets a penalty at Accrington last season.
The Tameside Advertiser says that Droylsden are to sign Ashton United's Gareth Morris. Manager Dave Pace said, "I want to improve on last season when we finished seventh and we will do our best. To be honest there’s a few teams spending a few bob and it’s getting harder and harder. We needed two or three players - one will be Gareth".
IC Liverpool says that Burscough are "resigned to losing several of the FA Trophy winning squad. Midfielder Mark Byrne is poised to sign for Southport, and another midfielder Paul Burns has indicated that he will be available only in emergency due to increased work commitments. Central defender Joe Taylor is expected to sign for either Yeovil or Tamworth, while his goalkeeper brother Matty is heading for trials with Lincoln City and Stockport. But [manager Mike] Marsh has already targeted two replacements for the central defence, one Chris Whelan who played for Kingstonian last season and...the other is an experienced Football League centre-half... Burscough-born Iain Brunskill, formerly with Hyde United and Maghull and now on the staff at the Liverpool FC Academy, is also expected to be involved in pre-season training to assess whether he can be part of Marsh's plans as a player". The same source says that ex-Burscough manager "Shaun Teale may sign for Southport" for whom "Both Steve Soley and Steve Whitehall took part in [training] after making quicker than expected recoveries from deep-seated injuries". Manager Mike Walsh said, "We are looking at a number of trialists and it will take a couple of weeks to assess them. Our first priority is working on the levels of fitness. Pre-season preparation is all about getting it right for the first league match".
The Lancaster Today website reports that "The current 'swap-shop' of players between Lancaster City and Southport continued this week with two more players taking the now well-trodden route. Paul Haddow and Chris Bennett have both gone to Haig Avenue to join up with ex-City boss Tony Hesketh, now assistant manager at Southport". City manager Phil Wilson "has reassured fans that central defensive pairing Farrell Kilbane and Paul Sparrow are staying". Meanwhile Tony Hesketh said, "I have a lot of respect for the players I had at Lancaster, I thought we had the makings of a championship-winning side and it is not surprising that I would like some of them to travel with me to Southport - nobody should be surprised at that".
Runcorn FC Halton are running a competition which costs £10 with the prize being a Harley-Davidson motorbike, worth £15,000. Gordon Taylor of the PFA launched the competition for the Linnets at the Bauer Millet shop, in Manchester and "announced that the PFA would buy £250-worth of tickets", according to This is Runcorn.
"Whitby Town FC finished the Unibond Premier season with a modest cash surplus thanks to players taking a 15% pay cut in January for the remainder of the season. Treasurer Andrew Spenceley told Friday's annual meeting at the clubhouse that the surplus was about £1,500 and the players would be back to the normal payments at the start of the new season. Taking into account the money raised for the new stand fund, the club had a £28,000 surplus for the year. Chairman Graham Manser, adding his tribute to the players' response to the pay cut, said: "They all stayed, and without the 15% cut we would have been looking at a loss. They stayed loyal and I am very grateful". Because the Conference ground standards are not yet known, Whitby "have decided to keep our options open and build a stand to seat 500", according to Whitby Today.
Ashton United have re-signed Dean Johnson, who has been in Australia, and also Andy Thackeray a right-sided defender/midfielder from Nuneaton Borough. Meanwhile Jason Dormer and Jamie Miller have signed new contracts.
NL Daily states that Hyde United have signed Phil Salt, a midfielder from Leigh RMI, and much-travelled former Alty midfielder Greg Challender (30) from Ashton United. Whitby Town have signed Scott Nicholson, an attacking midfielder from Tow Law Town.
Hucknall Town have signed striker Danny Bacon, who was on loan to the Nottinghamshire side from Mansfield Town last season for a "small fee". They have also signed former semi-pro international Gary Patterson (30) from Farnborough Town and goalkeeper Stuart Nelson (21) from Doncaster Rovers. The UniBond League also report that Nuneaton Borough left back, Dean Barrick and Halifax Town defender Alistair Asher have joined the club, whilst Steve Prindiville has left.
The Southport Visiter reports that Burscough's Mark Byrne has joined the Sandgrounders. Manager Mike Walsh said, "Mark is a pacey lad who can score goals, I've brought him in as winger but he can also play up front. I am pleased he wanted to join us at Haig Ave and I am looking to play with two wingers and would prefer a 4-4-2 formation". Earl Davis, who was at Stalybridge, is training at Southport but is sidelined till November by injury. Goalkeeper Kevin Welsby has left the club but Nuneaton Borough's defender Jamie Squires is training at Southport, according to the Portfans website.
Other moves:
The club has signed Michael Laws, a centre back from Whitby and Anthony Woodhouse, a striker from Spennymoor. Manager Paul Baker also says, "I am going to sign [goalkeeper] Adam Saddler who is on the coaching staff at Newcastle". Spartans' other keepers, Andy Grainger and Phil Naisbett are respctively on trial at Halifax and Swindon. Another Blyth player on trial is striker Scott Emerson, at Carlisle".
IC Huddersfield reports that Wakefield and Emley have appointed defender Paul David as assistant manager to Ian Banks. Former Emley goalkeeper Ray Dennis will also help with first-team coaching.
Copyright: ©
Compiled by John Laidlar