UNIBOND NEWS

Witton Invite Juniors to Watch for Free 06/07/2007

Ask a football fan of any generation to recall the first football match they attended and they will recount a detailed story of standing on a terrace aged seven or eight - whether their first game ended 0-0 or took place on a cold and wet Saturday in the middle of November, the memory was permanently stored! In recent years watching football has become an expensive pastime for parents with children and the obvious allure of famous name players, huge stadiums ‘must have’ merchandising all comes at a cost! Now juniors can build a season full of memories without it costing them a penny! As one of the longest established and successful non-league football teams, Witton Albion FC of the UniBond Northern Premier League have launched an initiative to provide Junior Supporters with FREE Season Tickets for the forthcoming 2007/8 season.

“We want to make football accessible to juniors, families and the community as a whole” commented Witton Albion’s Chairman Mike Worthington, “Witton prides itself on being a family club and the decision to launch this scheme reflects our commitment to bring more and more local people into football”. “With Premiership football teams within a 30 minute drive of the town we need to demonstrate the excitement of football in our league and encourage children and adults alike to support their local team”, said Worthington.The club will supply local teams, associations and clubs with free Junior Season Tickets for under 14s. Tickets will provide free admission to all 20 league games at Wincham Park during the 2007/8 season - with access to both the seated and terraced stands. In addition to providing free admission the club plans potentially to organise other events during the season if the initiative is successful. Witton Albion’s first team manager Jim Vince was delighted by the new scheme, “Our supporters were fantastic last year and made a huge impact on results on the pitch, the atmosphere at home games was tremendous and will only get better as a result of this initiative”. Vince further stated, “Support from juniors and their involvement in our youth teams or other local youth teams is good for football in the area, we should be encouraging that at every opportunity”.

Ashton United Squad Takes Shape 06/07/2007

Manager Danny Johnson continued his squad building plans at Northern Premier League side Ashton United by securing the signatures of three of last season's key players and a significant new addition.Re-signing are former Crewe winger Steve Garvey, ex-Oldham midfielder Danny Forde and flying frontman Tommy Taylor, who is in his second spell at Hurst Cross after playing at Marine and Prescot Cables.The only new face amongst the signings is Stalybridge Celtic midfielder Ben Smith. Ben was with Oldham Athletic as a youth and progressed as far as the reserves at Boundary Park before being released after a change of management at the Latics. He drifted into amateur soccer with Hollinwood in the Manchester League before being snapped up by Stalybridge, going on to make almost 100 appearances at Bower Fold, mostly in Conference North.

Reed Big Signings for Buxton 06/07/2007

John Reed has brought in two players from his old club Stalybridge Celtic. The first is 30-year-old defender or midfielder Scott Maxfield who will also be acting as team coach. Maxfield has league experience at both Doncaster and Hull City and made his name in non-league at Barrow where he was voted player of the season for six seasons running. Scott transferred to Stalybridge last season and now works as a coach at Scunthorpe United and he holds a UEFA ‘A’ coaching badge.

The second signing is 22-year-old right-back Grant Black who like Maxfield follows Reed from Bower Fold. Grant progressed through the ranks at Barnsley before moving into non-league with AFC Barnsley, where he was club captain, before moving onto Harrogate Town for the 2004/05 season. He was Reed’s first signing at Stalybridge. John Reed has pulled off his biggest transfer coup to date at the Silverlands by signing 23-year-old striker Andy Parton. An ex-Scunthorpe and Stalybridge hitman, Parton scored 26 goals for Goole last season and is regarded as one of the hottest properties in the UniBond League.Meanwhile Buxton FC have asked that their website is now up and running after a problem over recent weeks. The club send an apology to all its supporters for this inconvenience.