STONE THE CROAS!
Coasters splash out record fee for Ryan
DAVE CHALLINOR believes AFC Fylde record signing Ryan Croasdale will be a huge asset for the Coasters.
The National League club have splashed £50,000 on the 23-year-old Kidderminster Harriers midfielder. Croasdale is one of NonLeague’s brightest talents and has captained both club and England C. And Challinor thinks they have a gem on their hands. “We had him with us three or four years ago,” Challinor told The NLP. “I suppose he’s reinvented himself a little bit as a player over the last two years. He was always an advanced attacking midfield player, now he’s dropped into more of a creative playmaker type role. He’s really good at that and really suits the way we play.
Ambition
“Ryan’s a really good age and an investment we can turn into an asset. He can certainly kick on for us. He’s got the drive and ambition to get into the Football League and I imagine a lot of clubs would have been looking at him. He’s got an opportunity now to test himself at a little bit of a higher level and hopefully he’ll show everyone what he can do.”
Challinor’s side kick off training tomorrow ahead of their second campaign in Non-League’s top flight.
Last season they finished seventh, taking the final place in the play-offs before losing out in the Eliminator game to Boreham Wood.
Now the dust has settled, the former Colwyn Bay boss looks back with pride at how they fared, and knows what they need to do to improve this time out.
“When last season ended for us there was always going to be that overriding feeling of disappointment,” said Challinor,
right, who says squad depth is one area he intends to address. “Like a cup competition, if you advance and do really well and get knocked out, you’re disappointed because no one likes to lose.
Learn
“But when you look back at what we did, it was a really good season for us. It’s really important we take the positives and learn from the bits we think we can improve. “Towards the end a lot of our lads had played a lot of games and we kind of tiptoed over the line into the playpre-season offs. The previous season we’d brought a lot of players up with us from the National League North so for a lot it was their first year at the level.
“We started reasonably positively but over the course of the first ten games we only won two – we only lost two but we drew six. That put us in a position where we were in and around 17th, 18th, 19th for quite a while.
“Hopefully this year we will be in a better place because the lads will go in knowing they can compete and not, I suppose, looking for that reinforcement they are good enough to play at the level.
“We know what we’re going in to, what to expect and we know we’re more than a match for anyone.”