WILLIAMS: NO NEED TO PANIC
Martyrs chief plans a late summer spree
GAVIN WILLIAMS knows Merthyr Town have got to get their summer shopping right if they’re to mount another promotion challenge – but the boss isn’t going to panic.
Last season, Williams’ Martyrs lost only one game at home in the Evo-Stik South Premier division as they finished in the play-off places, before losing in the semi-final to Hitchin on penalties.
Williams had been hoping to keep the majority of that squad together for the upcoming season, but has seen Keyon Refell join league newboys Hereford and top-scorer Kayne McLaggon join Welsh Premier side Barry Town.
He has added proven NonLeague experience in former Luton Town and Forest Green Rovers striker Stuart Fleetwood but Williams thinks it will be well into July before his squad is ready for the starter’s gun.
Learning curve
“Unfortunately we’ve lost a couple of players and I imagine there will be a couple more to go,” Williams told The NLP. “It’s sort of our own fault because we had a successful season last year and obviously people are going to be interested in our players.
“The money they’ve been offered is ridiculous for the level we’re playing at so you can’t blame them for taking it. Any football club is the same, players come and then leave.
“The only disappointing thing is I would have liked to have kept the same squad and added one or two. I think we would have been competitive then and I’m sure we’d have been near the top of the table again.
“But I loved my first season. This summer so far has been tough and a learning curve. With players not having contracts they’re free to go but that’s football.
“It will probably the middle of July until my squad is complete. Players want to keep their options open, and I understand that, but there comes a point when we need to commit and we need to look elsewhere.
“It’s a case of being patient. I’m not panicking. It’s a case of waiting for the right player to come along. Now players have left it frees up money for me, but I don’t want to rush. I’ll wait for the right players.
“You can never be 100 per cent, there’s always a little risk when you sign a new player. But as a manager, and with my staff, they’re the decisions you have to make.”
Newly-promoted Hereford have already been installed as most people’s favourites for the title.
Williams doesn’t disagree and is expecting the division as a whole to step up in quality when it kicks-off in August.
“It will be a lot tougher than it was last year,” he added. “Hereford and Farnborough are coming into it and there were teams last year who underachieved – Kettering, Weymouth, King’s Lynn. So I can see it being a really competitive league. It’s going to depend on our summer signings really to see where we are.”