Foley expects to lose Probets and Denness

Friday 16th July 2010

CHATHAM TOWN boss Paul Foley says he is fine tuning his squad ahead of his first pre-season friendly away to Herne Bay in eight days time, writes Mike Green.

“Pre-season training is going well with five sessions under our belt now and the squad is taking shape and we have 20 lads that have been training with us," Foley told www.chathamtownfc.net.

Turning his attention to the latest player movements from last season’s squad, the former VCD Athletic boss said, “Rob Denness was invited to train with Sittingbourne and Ashley Probets was invited to Dartford.

“I am expecting both of these lads to sign for both clubs but they both know that they are welcome back if it does not work out for one reason or another. The same goes for Justin Ascheri has been approached by a couple of clubs also.

“I had a long chat with Ray Powell, who we had at VCD, and I have agreed to give him a call back when I know how the squad is shaping up. Ben Payne completed three sessions with us but he was up front about an approach from Erith Town last week and we had a chat on Saturday at our Greenwich Park session, where I suggested he should give it a couple of weeks by which time we would be playing our first friendlies as we are not overloaded with centre half options, with Gary Cook suspended for 4 games at the start of the season.

“Ben agreed when we spoke but on reflection felt that he would be guaranteed games at Erith Town who are clearly gearing up for a challenge at the Kent League title. I would have preferred him to stay and made that quite clear but I fully respect his decision.

“It is always difficult when players do not necessarily know a manager that well as that trust takes some time to build up, the fact of the matter is our policy is no-one is guaranteed spots no matter who they are and every player gets a fair crack in the side.

“If you do well enough to stay in, you are in and that fair policy is a big reason why the majority of lads have joined from VCD. They know that we are straight with them and they all buy into that selection policy.

“The lads that have stayed on may take a while to get to that level of trust but on the evidence of what I have seen so far, they will be valuable assets to the squad and key members for the season ahead. Matt Solly, Brad Potter, Ryan Laker, Michael Scott and Ryan Restell have been to all of the sessions so far. Anthony Hogg’s younger brother Jon who has been with Redhill has been to the last two sessions and he can play either at right back or centre half and was a very good youth prospect at Maidstone when I played there.

“There is one experienced and proven forward too who is keen to come down and I will be speaking to him this week before inviting him down to train.”

Looking ahead to August 21st, Paul said, “We will be looking to sign 20 players as the core first team squad (as we have every year) and we will also be looking at the young players coming through from the U18s who, on the assessments I have received within the club, are very good prospects.

“All in all the squad is looking in good shape with plenty of options available for the season ahead and it has gone better than I could of hoped for really. With three more sessions taking us up to eight before we play our first friendly at Herne Bay we should be on the way with our fitness heading into a succession of good friendlies to get the match sharpness back.”

Just a reminder that the club is now not expecting to be informed of the new season’s fixtures until Monday or Tuesday of next week at the earliest.

Article courtesy of www.chathamtownfc.net