04/05/21
We are pleased to confirm the signing of four players, including two familiar faces, ahead of the 2021/22 season, writes Neil Baker.
Our first new signing is goalkeeper Jonathan North, who we are delighted to get on board.
Most people locally will know Jonathan from his over 10 years’ service as Wealdstone’s number one, where he is somewhat of a legend. He joins us from Hendon, where he had a short spell which was cut short by the pandemic.
A great shot stopper who we have come across a number of times, Jonathan is highly thought of by managers and players alike, and we are delighted he has joined the club.
Trent Phillips will work with both Northy and Michael Edegbe from the U23s, who has trained with the first team squad now for the last six months.
We can also announce the signing of forward Tom Derry from Braintree Town.
Tom has been known to us for a while having played in the same Kingstonian team as Alan Inns and George Wells as a youngster, and he is one that we have kept an eye on. In recent seasons he has also been with Tonbridge Angels.
He is a good size and works extremely hard for the team, something that we will be instilling into the lads. He was really keen to join the club once he knew of our interest and again we are really pleased he is on board.
We have two returnees, the first of whom is Scott Davies.
Scott’s ability is undoubted, however he is also just a great guy and such a positive person to have around the changing room, and we feel that this has been missed in the season we have just had.
His set pieces are something we have not taken advantage of in the past as we usually had James Dobson, but will be something we will be using going forward.
He is also as fit as he has been in a number of years, and we are delighted he is back with us.
The second returnee is Matthew Lench, who rejoins us from Wealdstone.
When the approach came in from Wealdstone in December, we encouraged him to make the move as we felt there was more chance of a season finishing at their level than at ours, which was proven right. Unfortunately a change of manager a few weeks into his return to Wealdstone has meant it did not work out how he wanted, however we had made it clear at the time we would welcome him back in this scenario.
We all know the ability Lenchy has, and he is also another good guy who feels very much at home at Slough, and like Scottie we are really pleased he has rejoined.
We are also in talks with a few other players and will update supporters when there is something to announce.
Whilst we have brought the above four players in, we also have some extremely talented lads within the U23s, and there will be a few that we hope can make the step up to senior football with us during pre-season.
We ran our trials evening last Thursday, which went better than we could have hoped, with a number of talented local lads impressing. Out of the 28 players on the night we have invited five in for pre-season training, with a few more to keep tabs on.
Lastly, supporters will have seen that Micky Woodham, who we recently appointed as a scout, has been given the Staines Town manager job. Obviously it is a shame to lose Mick so quickly, however we still have Paul Barry in the scouting department, and ourselves and Ashley hope to work closely with Mick at Staines, whereby it can be mutually beneficial for both clubs.
Image: Philip Benton
Our first new signing is goalkeeper Jonathan North, who we are delighted to get on board.
Most people locally will know Jonathan from his over 10 years’ service as Wealdstone’s number one, where he is somewhat of a legend. He joins us from Hendon, where he had a short spell which was cut short by the pandemic.
A great shot stopper who we have come across a number of times, Jonathan is highly thought of by managers and players alike, and we are delighted he has joined the club.
Trent Phillips will work with both Northy and Michael Edegbe from the U23s, who has trained with the first team squad now for the last six months.
We can also announce the signing of forward Tom Derry from Braintree Town.
Tom has been known to us for a while having played in the same Kingstonian team as Alan Inns and George Wells as a youngster, and he is one that we have kept an eye on. In recent seasons he has also been with Tonbridge Angels.
He is a good size and works extremely hard for the team, something that we will be instilling into the lads. He was really keen to join the club once he knew of our interest and again we are really pleased he is on board.
We have two returnees, the first of whom is Scott Davies.
Scott’s ability is undoubted, however he is also just a great guy and such a positive person to have around the changing room, and we feel that this has been missed in the season we have just had.
His set pieces are something we have not taken advantage of in the past as we usually had James Dobson, but will be something we will be using going forward.
He is also as fit as he has been in a number of years, and we are delighted he is back with us.
The second returnee is Matthew Lench, who rejoins us from Wealdstone.
When the approach came in from Wealdstone in December, we encouraged him to make the move as we felt there was more chance of a season finishing at their level than at ours, which was proven right. Unfortunately a change of manager a few weeks into his return to Wealdstone has meant it did not work out how he wanted, however we had made it clear at the time we would welcome him back in this scenario.
We all know the ability Lenchy has, and he is also another good guy who feels very much at home at Slough, and like Scottie we are really pleased he has rejoined.
We are also in talks with a few other players and will update supporters when there is something to announce.
Whilst we have brought the above four players in, we also have some extremely talented lads within the U23s, and there will be a few that we hope can make the step up to senior football with us during pre-season.
We ran our trials evening last Thursday, which went better than we could have hoped, with a number of talented local lads impressing. Out of the 28 players on the night we have invited five in for pre-season training, with a few more to keep tabs on.
Lastly, supporters will have seen that Micky Woodham, who we recently appointed as a scout, has been given the Staines Town manager job. Obviously it is a shame to lose Mick so quickly, however we still have Paul Barry in the scouting department, and ourselves and Ashley hope to work closely with Mick at Staines, whereby it can be mutually beneficial for both clubs.
Image: Philip Benton
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