News

Chris becomes the third Rovers player in a month to move up two divisions after Karl Brown and Jimmy Turner recently moved to AFC Runcorn Halton

Manager Gary Norton commented: "Losing players of this quality is not good for us and our promotion bid but as a club we always like to see players progress to play at higher levels. The fact is that with our playing budget we simply cannot compete with the wages being offered by the bigger clubs and it's inevitable we are going to lose quality players as a result. Putting all our players on contracts is a possible solution but is both a massive cost and risk to the clubs finances; we already have more players than for a long time on a contract. Its without doubt the most frustrating part of the job but something I'm having to get used to and deal with the best I can."

He added: "Chris has been agonising over his decision for days and was very emotional when we spoke on the phone about his decision. At 28 he feels that he may not get another opportunity to prove himself at that level and he indicated that to me that it was the main reason for him going to Redditch. I sincerely hope it works out for Chris and we wish him all the best at his new club. Rod Brown is a great manager and will I'm sure get the best out of Chris but now my priority turns to looking to strengthen our squad."

Norton also revealed that Sean Gummer is also thinking over a step up in level after as expected Premier Division Frickley Athletic issued an official approach at the weekend. Norton said: "Sean has been frustrated at not playing regularly for us but the fact is that we have been able to keep quite a settled side and this has somewhat limited his opportunities. I've asked him to give it another month and see what opportunities develop and he's thinking it over. He's going over to Frickley on Tuesday to speak with the manager and we will see what develops from there."