Pitchero Non League

Shaun Cunnington

.....Town is once again an attractive place for players.

That’s the view of manager Shaun Cunnington following a successful week in which midfielder Neil Barnfield also returned to the Grove.

Meanwhile, the Yeltz made their first signings of the summer by snapping up former Stourbridge striker John Griffin and Bewdley Town’s Chris Seekins, with the only disappointment being the departure of Marcus Jackson to Romulus.

Cunnington says retaining Haseley and Barnfield shows just how far the club has come in the past twelve months.

He said: “I think it speaks volumes.

“Ben was offered the opportunity to play at a higher level and we had to compete with four or five clubs from the division above.

“The fact he has decided to stay shows Halesowen Town is now a completely different attraction to what it was twelve months ago.

“Ben and Neil are a huge part of what we want to achieve and I’m delighted they have decided to return.

“We always said it would take time but the squad is slowly starting to build.”

Securing the services of Haseley for another season is something of a coup after the striker, who scored ten goals for the Yeltz after joining from Heath Hayes in January, was courted by a number of other clubs.

At one stage club officials were almost resigned to losing him to Rushall Olympic but the 26-year-old decided to accept an offer to stay.

Griffin is another player Cunnington hopes can excel at the Grove, after he scored fifteen goals last season during spells at Stourbridge, Stourport Swifts and Evesham United.

He said: “John is a player I’ve admired for some time, he has regularly scored upwards of twenty goals a season.

“It’s been a long process trying to bring him in, I actually tried to get him at the start of last season.

“Once again we have competed against teams higher in the pyramid but managed to bring him here.

“It was a similar situation with Neil Barnfield, who had a host of other clubs vying for his services.

“To bring these players in adds competition to the squad and can only be good for the club.”

He added: “The big thing is we want players who want to be at Halesowen for the right reason.

“Players like Neil and Ben want to be successful and they are the type of players we want to have.”

Keeper Paul Evans, last season’s player of the year, is among a host of other players who have agreed to stay.

The list includes Mark Smith, Brendan Kelly, Andrew Westwood, Reece Cotterill, Nathan Jones, Richard Huckfield, Simon Flower and James Loney.

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