Aspin to add further after double capture
FC Halifax Town boss Neil Aspin still has an eye on three more recruits as he looks to build for the new Vanarama National League campaign. Aspin has been busy in his preparations, with experienced striker Andy Bishop and towering centre-half Matty Brown coming in as his latest recruits.
Brown, 25, is a former Chester captain who was not offered a deal at the end of an injury-hit 2014-15 season.
Six-footer Bishop, 32, is a ex-England C striker, who has clubs like Yeovil, Wrexham, Rochdale and York on his CV.
Aspin sees new signings as being paramount following the departures of Marc Roberts, Adam Smith, Lois Maynard, Paul Marshall and Danny Schofield.
He said: “With the players leaving the club we are now about three short, but over the next 10 or so days we are hoping to sort a few things out.
“You expect that any signings you make will add something to the side, Andy Bishop and Matty Brown will be no different.
“We need experience and Andy certainly fits into that category.”
Halifax are set to return to training tomorrow, though Aspin won’t have his full squad together until the following weekend.
He hasn’t put forward any ambitions for the new campaign, but the manager has underlined that the National League will be more competitive than ever.
“Saturday will be our first session, but a few of the lads are still away, so the main session will be the following weekend,” he said.
“It isn’t like the old days when you just run them, but obviously you need the fitness in pre-season.
“Looking forward we want to do as well as we can.
“This is being made harder every year though because we keep losing our best players.
We have been in this league for two years now and every season it is getting more and more competitive.
“This season there are no stragglers at the bottom that you can guarantee to take points off, every game will be tough.
“We have worked hard to get into this league and we want to stay there.
“Last season teams like Telford and Nuneaton came up and then went straight back down, which is something that we have to guard against.”
Town kick off the pre-season preparatory work on July 11 when they travel to Tadcaster Albion of the NCEL Premier.
That is followed by games against Brighouse, Stockport, Bradford PA, Farsley, Hyde, Oldham, Shelley and York.
The fixtures are set to be announced on July 3.