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.
Graves A Moatman
Former fans favourite Eric Graves is amongst the first signings to commit to the club for the forthcoming season as he returns to the Moat Ground.
It had been rumoured that Graves was close to making a return towards the end of last season but for various reasons the move didn’t happen. New manager Gary Norton revealed that Graves had been one of his main targets in the summer of rebuilding and was delighted to have got his man.
On the signing Norton told Gresleyfc.com: “When Carl, Jamie and I sat down in our first meeting, Eric was the first name we discussed in addition to a few other names who we wanted to try and bring back to the club.
"He has all the attributes in a player we are looking for to be a great fit for us both on and off the pitch. He has great experience and is one of those lads who will give his all in every single game, no matter what the situation.
"He will be a great asset to the club and also be someone who can help our younger and less experienced members of the squad. We have been speaking to him for a few weeks and met up in person earlier this week and he agreed to sign. We are very lucky to have got him to sign so early as he had a number of clubs after him and lots of lads like to leave their decision to commit to a club quite late. In that respect and the fact we are essentially building a team from scratch we are grateful to Eric for committing to the club so early.
"The news of Eric Graves returning to the club will hopefully provide a boost to supporters and I assure them we have some good news coming in the next few days about other signings."
Commenting on his return to Gresley the Willington based Graves told the clubs website
“I really loved my previous spell at Gresley. We had a good two seasons, going on a decent FA Trophy run to play Wrexham & then reaching the playoffs in the second year. Having 250+ fans backing you each week makes a big difference compared to a lot of teams in this league and if we give them something to cheer about, they can act as a 12th man and help us make The Moat a fortress."
He added: “I’ve had over ten club managers contact me this summer but to be perfectly honest, Gaz, Slates and Baz have been the ones who have been chasing me the hardest and telling me about the transformation around the club, which persuaded me to sign.
"It really seems like the feel good factor is back at the club & I’m excited for the season to get started. I really want to help the management team lead Gresley to a much better position in the league this year.”
