FAB FIVE MAKE MOOR MERRIER
SPENNYMOOR TOWN boss Jason Ainsley says even he is surprised by the quality of player he has been able to attract to the club so far this summer.
The 2013 FA Vase winners are coming off the back of their second promotion in three years having beaten Northwich Victoria in the EvoStik NPL Division One North play-off final after finishing second.
However, their success saw a number of Ainsley’s squad move on with them not able to commit to the extra travelling in the NPL Premier.
It meant the Moors boss had a busy summer ahead of him but he’s already got most of his shopping done, announcing five signings this week.
Three of those – Rob Ramshaw, James Curtis and Jamie Chandler – have come from National League outfit Gateshead while Graeme Armstrong joins from Darlington 1883 and Andrew Johnson leaves Ashington behind.
Centre-half Curtis made 596 appearances for the Heed after joining in 2003, utility man Ramshaw played 100 times for the International Stadium outfit and midfielder Chandler was a former captain of the club.
The trio have all signed two-year contracts with the County Durham club and Ainsley is excited by his new look squad.
He told The NLP: “You look at teams above you that are releasing players and the pool of lads available to us is small because of our location.
“You hope to get the odd gem from the Northern League but even those are getting rarer because those clubs pay good money and the players want to stay in the area because of travelling reasons.
“The first call I made to the Gateshead lads was just to let them know I was interested – it was more of a courtesy call than anything.
Advantage
“I knew they would be inundated with offers, clubs like Halifax, York and Darlington were mentioned, so you’re never confident but once they had met me and the chairman (Brad Groves) they really bought into our plans. “It’s a small area around here. If you promise people things and they don’t materialise, that soon spreads around. We like to think we do things professionally here. “To strengthen the areas we needed to with players who have got plenty of Conference experience, it can only be a big advantage.”
While the club’s new additions may have got their Evo-Stik NPL Premier rivals sitting up and taking notice, Ainsley is under no illusions that Step 3 will provide a stern challenge.
The former Hartlepool midfielder – who has also brought in FC Halifax’s Tommy Miller as assistant manager and Alan White as player-coach from Darlington – added: “I watched a lot of matches at Northern Premier level last year and it’s definitely a step up.
“There are some really top quality teams with players that can hurt you so the added experience we’ve brought in will really help us.
“It’s a new era for the club. We’ve had nine players that left because they couldn’t commit to the travelling but I’m really excited by the new signings – I just wish pre-season started tomorrow!”