Captain’s Column

I’M DELIGHTED to have Devante Rodney back with us.

He’s a really good lad, I’ve kept in touch with him since last season.

It’s credit to the gaffer and to the chairman for backing him to go and get such a signing.

We were getting whispers of losing Liam McAlinden and we were thinking ‘how are we going to replace him?’ because he did a very good job for us.

But if you’re going to replace him, there’s probably no better player we could have replaced him with in terms of the all-round package - pace, power, creating goals and scoring goals.

First-half on Saturday he was probably shaking the cobwebs off but then as soon as he relaxed a bit you saw what dangers he’s going to cause for teams.

In the blink of an eye he can score goals and create goals.

He’s a great lad, he’s very humble and he wants to learn. He fitted into our dressing room very well last year, he’s a likeable lad.

As a player, you can go to certain clubs and it doesn’t happen for you, but he’s probably played his best football for us.

He’s probably thinking he can come and help get us promoted in the last bit of his contract and maybe become a permanent Halifax player in the Football League.

I know he had a couple of other options but he’s chosen to come to us and I’m buzzing we’ve got him.

You’ve seen glimpses on Saturday of Devante and Jack Redshaw together. I think it’s going to be exciting to watch.

Everyone knows what I think of Jack, he’s a very intelligent footballer. He just needs to stay fit. The fact he hasn’t been fit for so long is probably why he’s with us.

He’s another player who, if we can get ourselves into the league above, I’m sure would attract interest from other clubs.

When they’re in form, the pair of them are electric at this level.