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Northwood delivers ultimatum
Story courtesy of
Gresley boss Frank Northwood this week gave two of his longest serving players a stark ultimatum – ‘change your attitude or get out’.
Defender Mark Bromley and midfielder Jon Laws have been given a blunt warning by Northwood that their approach to the game must change if they are to continue to feature in the Moatmen’s Banks’s League championship challenge.“These two have got to learn their lesson or they will go,” said Northwood. “It’s not the duo’s performances on the field that worry the Moat Ground chief as much as their attitude off it. They have both got to learn to be more professional. Sometimes they seem to treat the game as a big joke and I get the feeling they wouldn’t mind if we lost.
“There is a time for having a laugh and that’s after the game when the job has been done. They could learn a lot from someone like Clive Arthur who is dying to get in the team.”
Northwood’s words underline that nobody is free from critical analysis in his relentless pursuit of excellence.
Bromley is the only survivor of the rash of players Northwood first introduced after his arrival at the club almost three years ago while Laws is now in his third season at the Moat Ground.
One player almost certainly leaving the club is striker Paul Acklam. Acklam, a close-season arrival from Borrowash Victoria, has failed to find his goal touch in a Gresley shirt despite some notably unselfish performances up-front.
Northwood said: “Shepshed Charterhouse want to sign Paul and I won’t stand in his way. Perhaps a change of club is what he needs. If things don’t work out for him there I’ll be happy to have him back at Gresley any time.”
