Gannon to Continue With Young Squad

In keeping with Jim Gannon's tradition of focusing on developing footballers, six of the starting line-up for Stockport.....

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Published 10th May 2012

Jim Gannon

....County`s final day win at Hayes & Yeading United in the Blue Square Bet Premier were aged 20 or under - with three of the five substitutes still in their teens.

This focus on developing talent will continue next season, and the squad for the forthcoming campaign is already beginning to take shape.

The following professional players have been offered terms of re-engagement for the coming season:

Senior players Daniel O'Donnell and Joe Connor have been offered one year contracts for the 2012/2013 season.

Younger first-team players Tom Elliott, Andy Halls, Carl Piergianni and Cameron Darkwah have also been made an offer of re-engagement.

The only contracted player of last season not to be offered a contract is Danny Rowe.

Non-contract players Bernie Hirmer and Jordan Rose have left the club on the expiration of their current deals.

Aaron Cole and Lewis King have also returned to their respective clubs at the end of their loan deals. We would like to thank them all for the part they have played in the successful end to the season.

One loan player not returning to his club is Sean Newton. His loan has now expired but an important part of the overall deal that brought him to Edgeley Park was the permanent transfer to Stockport once his contract expired at AFC Telford United.

County agreed and paid a nominal fee for his transfer and he has now since signed a one-year deal.

As part of their scholarship agreements the club has also offered one-year contracts to youth players Ben Say, Andy Graham and Deji Omoboye.

First year trainee Kyle Brownhill has also been offered a similar one year contract for the forthcoming 2012/13 season. Gannon explained that talks have gone very well with all the players: "At this stage of the season, a number of difficult conversations have to take place, but I am happy to be able to retain and make offers to all of the regular first-team players that finished last season so strongly.

"Much work was done during last season to transform the shape of the squad with almost a whole team of contracted players - Matty Glennon, Mark Lynch, Nabil Bounab, Chris Blackburn, Ryan McCann, John Miles, Michael Paton, Antonio German, Martin Gritton and Nick Chadwick all leaving the club.

"The work of the last four months has meant that we have reshaped and reconstructed the squad well before the end of the season, and much of the current work is simply about securing the services of the players that have served us so well in the back half of the season. Talks have been difficult in light of the constraints of the forthcoming season's budget and I am very grateful that the players have been very understanding of such during the negotiations.

"We are working hard to retain our competitiveness in terms of financial offers to players, and in light of such I have been pleased with the importance the players have placed on being part of an enjoyable and exciting football experience here at Edgeley Park. I am confident that all the players will accept their offers and we will get to work together as a team for another season."