I won’t stop wantaway players leaving, says Bay boss
WHITLEY Bay manager Andy Gowens has revealed that he won’t stand in the way of players who don’t want to be at the club.
The four-time FA Vase winners revealed this week that key trio Tom Flynn, Tom Potter and Josh Nearney have all asked to leave the club and have submitted transfer requests.
Gowens has been hard at work adding to his squad and has brought in the likes of experienced defender Ibby Hassan and Bedlington Terriers striker Jack Foalle.
The Bay boss also fielded a number of trialists in Monday night’s 6-3 friendly defeat against Morpeth Town, and insisted that the club will come first in any transfer activity.
He said: “I don’t want the three lads to go but they feel that they want to leave the club for their own personal reasons.
“If players don’t want to play for Whitley Bay then it makes no sense to have them here.
“The club is the most important thing and the club must come first.
“We have brought in some quality players and work is still being done to bring in some more. It is about getting the right balance but, as the chairman would say, doing that within the budget.”
Gowens admitted that competing with the Northern League’s top six would be “difficult” but doesn’t believe that his squad is too far away.
Work is being done to bring in new recruitments and the Seahorses boss believes that he is two or three players away from having a squad that can help the club achieve their targets for the new season.
“We want to compete with the top six and have good runs in the FA Cup and FA Vase, which I think is the target for most clubs in our league.
“It will be difficult but I don’t think we are too far away at the moment.
“We have some good footballers in the squad and I think we are two or three signings away.
“There is one prominent position that we need to fill and we have irons in the fire on that one.
“We said that we wanted a bigger spine and there has been more changes than I anticipated but we aren’t far away from being up there.
“Hopefully this week, or next week, all of that will be sorted”