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Squad update and Shelley preview

Yay, football is back again. We begin our 2014-15 season tomorrow with a return visit to Shelley FC , who were excellent hosts last season. FC United women’s team will be playing Huddersfield Ladies on the same day at the same venue, kick off 12.30pm. The weather forecast looks perfect; dry and warm, but with some cloud cover, so we won’t fry quite as much as last season.

In advance of the friendlies, Manager, Karl Marginson, plus his coaching and scouting team have been working hard to consolidate and strengthen the squad. Apart from the known high profile leavers at the end of last season (Charlie Raglan and Tom Davies) almost the entire squad has been retained for the coming season, with Adam Jones being the only other regular to depart.

Margy said "We’ve got a really good team spirit at the moment with a lot of stability. Obviously we needed to replace the three centre backs who left at the end of last season and it’s been important to find the right players, with the right character to fit into our squad. We’re very pleased to have signed James Knowles, Andy Pearson and Shaun Connor, two of whom have been at the club before"

James Knowles, 31, an experienced defender from Bradford Park Avenue is joining FC United for the first time. Margy said "James’s leadership qualities will be a great asset. He’s played against FC United on several occasions, including captaining BPA for both the play off semi in 2011 and the final in 2012."

Andy Pearson, 24, rejoins FC United having moved to Nantwich in December 2013 to improve his fitness. Margy gave praise for his efforts "All credit to Andy, he’s worked really hard on his fitness levels and it’ll be great to have him back."

Shaun Connor, 23, is also returning to the FC United fold having been in our youth team during 2008-09, when he formed a formidable centre back pairing with Nick Swirad (for info, Nick is in the USA at the moment). Margy said "This is what we like to do for the development of our young players. Shaun has been playing for Radcliffe Borough and more recently Ossett Town and he’s really grown in stature."

The three new defenders are joined by forward/midfielder Craig Lindfield who signed for FC United at the beginning of the month. Full details of all the pre-season friendlies can be found here as well as on the fixture list.

Margy concluded "Pre-season training has gone really well so far and we’re looking forward to a great start to the season with the friendlies. I hope we can get big crowds at all the pre-season games to cheer on the lads."


First Posted ~ 16:34 Fri 11 Jul 2014
News ID ~ 5581
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021