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Fab Five agree new deals | Weekly News Xtra - 21/5/21

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Fab Five agree new deals | Weekly News Xtra - 21/5/21

There’s good news for Matlock Town fans this weekend as manager Paul Phillips confirmed five of their leading lights from last season had agreed new contracts.

Defenders Ryan Qualter and Reece Kendall, midfielder Callum Chippendale, winger Alex Byrne and striker Liam Hughes have committed to Matlock for the coming season. Add the earlier news of goalkeeper Shaun Rowley signing a contract and the signing of speedy winger Jesarun Uchebegulam, it’s been a pretty good few days for the Gladiators.

A delighted Phillips says that the work done twelve months ago in bringing the five players to the Proctor Cars Stadium is bearing fruit.

“It’s brilliant to have them with us again and for me it’s all about continuity on what we want to do, we recruited well last season, the lads have all fitted in so for me getting them signed on again was a no brainer and it’s a real positive for the football club.”

The news should also go down well with the Matlock supporters.

“I think the fans can see we’ve got a good set of lads, they can see we’ve got something building. There’s no need to make wholesale changes but it’s important that the nucleus of the squad is formulated, the spine of the side is sorted with the goalkeeper, centre half, midfielders and the centre forward. There’s a lot of winning experience in there, they know how to manage games and different situations. It’s a big lift for us all and a massive statement being able to keep these lads together and we could have something special building here.”

The Gladiators have confirmed striker Callum Dolan’s release after just one season at the Proctor Cars Stadium and Phillips has also indicated that most of the non contracted playing staff will be staying on for the upcoming season.

Ian Richardson