Note that this page is from our archive during the time when the club was called Gresley FC. It may not be related to the old Gresley Rovers.
Players On The Move
As mentioned a couple of weeks ago by manager Gary Norton, this week sees a couple of his squad leave the Moat Ground for pastures new.
Defender Jack Coulson and striker Richard Hanslow are set to leave the club by the end of the week. Coulson is to join fellow East Midlands Counties league side Holbrook Sports in a permanent move whilst Hanslow will sign duel forms with current Midland Combination Premier Division Leaders Heather St John's. Hanslow was the subject of a 7 day approach from Heather at the start of the season but the young forward turned down the opportunity to remain at the Moat Ground to try and establish himself as a regular in the team which hasn't materialised.
The 7 day approach rules do not allow a club to make an approach for the same player twice within the same season so Hanslow has been allowed to join Heather on dual forms.
On the departures Norton commented: "It comes as no great surprise that we are to lose a couple of our squad after the recent addition of Barry Woolley and David Blenkinsopp to our ranks.
"It's hard keeping such a big squad of talented players all happy at the same time and one or two moving on in order to get regular football was inevitable. Richard and I have been speaking over the weekend and although he said he loves it at Gresley he recognises that with the current forward options we have at the club that his chances of playing regularly from the start were going to be somewhat limited.
"It's a great shame because he is very talented and has already scored some cracking goals for us. However he's a young lad and just wants to play football and with that in mind I've agreed to his request to sign for Heather on the understanding he remains registered with us in case of emergencies.
"We could have stuck to the rule book but in this instance we are happy to allow the move as it should help Richard to get more football under his belt and Heather are a very decent club and who will look after him."
On Coulson's departure Norton commented: "Jack has opted to join Holbrook after they submitted a 7 day request last week. He was superb for us last season and in fairness to him has been a little unlucky this season for various reasons.
"I would have liked him to have remained with us and fight for his place in the squad but he's opted to move on which he's perfectly entitled to do.
He's a lovely lad and he's been great to work with and we genuinely wish him well for the future."
The departures mean Norton's squad has reduced to a more manageable size of around 20 regulars which includes new keeper Darren Keeling who joined the club last week.
He added: "Once we had signed Barry and Dave a few weeks back we knew that would mean we would probably end up losing a couple of players. It's sometimes hard to get the right balance in terms of squad numbers and options. Too many and you can't keep everyone happy, too few and you struggle when injuries and unavailability's bite deeply.
"In the past I've always tried operate with a first team squad of around 18 or 19 players and also use Reserve team lads when required. As the Reserve team is undergoing a transitional phase at the moment our current squad size is about right.
"We will always have players injured, suspended, working or generally unavailable for various reasons such as holidays or weekends away so our squad size will hopefully accommodate that without really compromising our options."
