Nott upset over player exodus

Wednesday 03rd March 2010

MAIDSTONE UNITED boss Peter Nott claims Margate have not made official seven-day approaches for tough-tackling midfielder Nick Barnes and goalkeeper Jamie Turner, writes Stephen McCartney.

Relegation-threatened Margate lined up with a trio of former Maidstone United players during last night’s 3-0 home defeat to Tonbridge Angels, although the Stones moved away from the Ryman Premier League relegation zone as a Danny Hockton strike sealed a morale-boosting 1-0 win over Billericay Town at Homelands Stadium.

Jamie Turner made his Margate debut in goal (against one of his former clubs), whilst Jay Saunders and Barnes lined up in the middle of the park as Iain O’Connell took charge of his first game.

O’Connell, who lives in Southend, Essex, becomes Margate’s third manager of the season, and last night’s crushing defeat leaves Margate one point off the foot of the table and they welcome the side below them in the table (Waltham Abbey) this coming Saturday.

Nott, who was speaking to www.maidstoneunited.co.uk has told disgruntled Stones fans the situation regarding Saunders, Barnes and Turner.

“The first player to leave was Jay Saunders, after we received a 7 day request from Margate to speak to him, which they are entitled to do as he was a non contract player,” explained Nott.

“Jay is a personal friend and ex-team mate of Margate's new manager, so although we were disappointed to lose him it was inevitable that he would be presented with an attractive proposition to put pen to paper to spearhead Margate's fight against relegation.

“Jay helped us settle into our new roles very quickly and we were looking forward to working with him as part of our new management team, so it was a great shame to see him go but we wish him well for the future.

“Hot on the heels of Jay going we received a request from Nick Barnes to be deregistered although we had not received a 7 day approach from any club!

“Nick stated he wanted the freedom to be able to join another club as and when the opportunity arose and made himself unavailable for selection immediately.

“As you are probably aware he also signed for Margate this week, and it is also worth noting that league rules prevent Margate for making more than one 7 day approach for a player from the same club within a 28 day period, make what you want of that!

“The very next day Jamie Turner also told us he was leaving and made himself unavailable for selection although once again we had not received any 7 day approach from any club.

“Initially Jamie did not ask to be deregistered but after a few days he did and he too has now signed for Margate!”

Nott appears to have a point, however. The Ryman Football League handbook states on page 53 under ruling 6.1 that, “Except when specific approval has been given by the Board a Club cannot sign or transfer more than one Player from another Club at any one time, unless a period of 14 days has elapsed between each signing.

“The Board have the power to place an embargo on the registration, transfer or the loan transfer of Players by any Club who are deemed to be in breach of these Rules.”

Nott acted quickly to bring in former Maidstone United goalkeeper Andy Walker, who was allowed to play against his parent club, Billericay Town last night.

He said: “We moved quickly to sign a replacement and we were delighted that we managed to agree a loan deal with Billericay for Andy Walker to return between the sticks for us again and we were especially pleased with his superb performance against his old club last night!

“We must also confirm that unfortunately James Pinnock played his last game for the club last night, Pinno informed us last week that he wanted to leave but made himself available to play against Harrow Borough and Billericay.

“Pinno gave 100%+ effort in both of those games and we thank him for his professionalism during this period and also wish him well at his new club which will be announced shortly, but we are sure you will probably guess correctly!

“On Monday evening we completed the signing of Antonio Gonnella in time for him to make his second debut of the season for Maidstone last night and he made a promising start to his second spell and we are also pleased to announce that Dean Hernandez-Bradshaw has agreed to return to the club and will be available for selection at the weekend.

“We are also in discussion with a couple of other possible signings and we will keep you posted on these as they progress through the correct channels!

“Hopefully we can now work with a settled squad and put behind us the traumas of unpaid players wages etc and focus on the real reason we are here which is to ensure Maidstone United FC are successful on the football pitch.”

The Stones climbed six points clear of the drop zone as Hockton scored against one of his former clubs to defeat Billericay Town, pleasing Nott no end.

He said: “We collected 3 valuable points against Billericay last night and it was particularly pleasing to get them at the Homelands as we know we desperately need to improve our home results.

“It was a battling team display which was made even more strenuous by the condition of the pitch and it was great to see Danny Hockton's hard work rewarded with a cracking strike that flew past the keeper for the only goal of the game.

“We competed better in the second half and stemmed the flow from their central midfield pairing and we also defended in numbers when required.

“Although it was a good all round team performance a special mention to Edgey (Roland Edge), who looked quality in an unfamiliar centre half role.

“We were hanging on at bit at the end and matters were made worse with the harsh sending off for Steve Elliott, in our opinion neither tackle was malicious and whilst we certainly do not want to curb his enthusiasm hopefully he will learn from this as well.”

The Stones travel to Sutton United - a side that are presently sitting in third place - at the weekend.

And Nott said: “We now need to show the same level of commitment and desire in our remaining games to make sure we climb away from the relegation zone and we need a sizeable squad to allow for injuries etc as the games are coming thick and fast.”

Speaking about team personnel, Nott said, “On the injury front Nathan (Paul) has strained some of the ligaments in his knee and expects to be out of action for a couple of weeks whilst Tom Parkinson suffered a groin injury during the warm up last night and is also expected to be out for a fortnight.

“You can be rest assured that our physio Nicky Collins will be working intensively with both players to get them back in action as soon as possible. Also missing will be PK (James Peacock) as he has one more game to serve of his 4 match suspension.”

Former Ebbsfleet United defender, Peter Hawkins, meanwhile, has accepted the role of club captain.

Nott added: “He has a great attitude and professional outlook to the game and is well respected by all of the players and club officials.”

Margate, meanwhile, had Curtis Robinson red-carded, as they went down to a 3-0 defeat to an in-form Tonbridge Angels.

Reflecting on his first game in charge, O’Connell told www.margat-fc.com: “We had four new signings out there, who I thought did OK.

“But you can’t play a game just in one half. First half, we didn’t come out. Our passing was really bad.”

The former Margate player continued, “For 40 minutes of the second half, we were the better side. Of course, we were going for it, put another forward on and they scored two late goals sin the last five minutes.

“We’ve got to make sure that we play for 90 minutes and not just 45.

“I don’t think 3-0 reflects the game,” he added. “All we can do is be happy with the way we did in the second half and take that forward to Saturday.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s must-win clash against basement boys Waltham Abbey, O’Connell appreciates that he and assistant, John Keister, “have got a lot of work to do.”

Quotes courtesy of www.maidstoneunited.co.uk & www.margate-fc.com