Latest arrival Blair becomes eighth signing of summer for Town
gloslivesport@reachplc.com
CHELTENHAM Town have completed the signing of experienced winger Matty Blair. The 31-year-old has been with the League Two club for most of pre-season, although a contract was put on hold while he recovered from a hamstring injury.
Blair returned to training this week and he will compete for the starting place at right wing-back, where centre midfielder Conor Thomas has been filling in.
Blair started in non-league football and played under Cheltenham director of football Micky Moore at both Stratford Town and Redditch United.
He reached the Football League with York and has since played for Fleetwood, Mansfield and Doncaster, along with loan spells at Northampton and Cambridge.
Blair is Cheltenham’s eighth new signing of the summer and the fifth permanent addition after Liam Sercombe, Andy Williams, Lewis Freestone and Max Harris.
The three loanee are West Brom’s Josh Griffiths and Finn Azaz and Hull City’s Elliot Bonds.
Blair has been with the Robins since training the day before their second pre-season friendly of the summer against Stratford Town on August 18.
He played for an hour against his former club at Knights Lane and assisted Dan Bowry’s goal to make it 2-0 after Liam Sercombe’s opener before Alfie May rounded off the scoring.
Blair then appeared against Bristol
City at Ashton Gate three days later, but suffered a minor hamstring injury, which has kept him out of the subsequent three warm-up games against Bristol Rovers, Wolves Under-23s and Cardiff City.
Blair, along with Bowry (thigh) and Will Boyle (knee), missed Saturday’s Carabao Cup first round tie at Peterborough United.
Sean Long (hip) faces a slightly longer spell on the sidelines, but when they are fit, he and Blair will compete for the right wing-back place.
Duff said that his latest signing was made possible by the sale of Ryan Broom to Peterborough for a six-figure sum on August 24.
“Blairy came in to train and we had an honest conversation with him because there was no contract to be offered,” Duff said.
“But he lives locally and we knew there was interest in Broomy.
“He offers good experience and he’s been promoted out of the division two or three times.
“The position suits him perfectly because he’s a winger who can defend and he has good pace so he can take the ball up the pitch. “
Duff puts Blair’s hamstring issue down to pushing himself too hard in a bid to earn a deal after leaving League One Doncaster this summer.
“It’s probably because he hasn’t done any training for six months, then he did a day’s training and played for an hour, then he did another day’s training and played against Bristol City before breaking down,” he said.
“He was in a sticky position because he was trying to earn a contract and probably doing too much too soon.
“There will be a lot of those sorts of situations in the next few months and a few clubs carrying knocks because players can do all the running and cycling they want during lockdown, but repeating the intensity of training every day and the football specific movements is difficult.”
Young goalkeeper Max Harris’ oneyear contract was confirmed on Thursday and Duff has confirmed they are looking to replace Broom, saying: “We are actively looking to bring in a replacement, but that doesn’t mean you are going to get what you want.”