My view on which players would be released and which would stay wasn’t very accurate, there were a few surprises in the initial “Retained List”.

I was shocked to see both goalkeepers kicked out; fair play to John Danby for getting himself fixed up quickly and at a higher league club in Chester, he was the one I would have kept.  At the other end of the spectrum it was good to see Mark Yates had the nerve to get rid of the over-hyped, under-achieving players such as Terry Fleming and Gareth Sheldon.  They were players who should have been influential in our campaign last season but instead just flattered to deceive.

Micheal Blackwood was another who fell into that category but I had a feeling Yates would try to keep at least one of him, Sheldon and Simon Russell.  As it was he decided to keep two and all that remains is for Blackwood to accept his new contract – he is the only one offered a new contract that has yet to sign it.

Russell, Luke Reynolds, Michael McGrath, Jonny Harkness all signed up and joined Jake Sedgemore, Gavin Hurren and Russ Penn in the squad for next season.  So far the only addition from outside is goalkeeper Steve Taylor who was formerly with Telford and back-up to ex-Harrier Stuart Brock.  He spent a lot of last season in Australia, however, playing cricket so nobody really knows what he is capable of but surely Yates has another, more experienced keeper lined-up.

The manager has stated that he has a number of other targets in mind and negotiations are ongoing with them, so we all await with baited breath the outcome of his efforts.

The pre-season friendlies were announced yesterday and were generally greeted with indifference and disappointment.  Only two of them are at home – against WBA and Wolves – and both are likely to be against weak teams; Albion have arranged two games on hte same day and will split their squad across the two matches while the Wolves team is already billed as a Wolves XI meaning reserves and kids.  There are away trips to Gloucester, Cinderford, Halesowen, Bromsgrove, Stourport and Worcester.  The last game before the Conference season starts is the trip to St George’s Lane; none of the games will stretch the lads too much and the addition of another “glamour” game at Aggborough to bring in some extra cash would have been welcome.

At least this summer we have nearly all of the players signed up that the manager wanted to keep and already one new one on board which is a far better situation than we had this time last year.

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