Agreed! Right back seems to have been a position that we've 'ignored' over the last few seasons.
So was I! A 4 hour round journey in a car... Bit of a bump.
It's not unusual for players based in South London to play for clubs on the South Coast as far away as Havant or Eastleigh, not to mention the likes of Margate or Eastbourne. Maybe he's moved recently, or in the process of moving? He seems to be looking to make a career in football coaching and already has a UEFA B Licence, so maybe there's a role with Aspire Academy included? Or perhaps it's just an attractive opportunity to work with Gavin & Junior, or the training schedule ties in with other commitments and ambitions?
Long gone are the days when a player would be local, sling their boots over their shoulder & stroll to a game!But seriously, we are a very big player at our level now, based on crowds, community engagement, quality of management & coaching as well as wages. Long gone are the days when your archetypal non league player would work a nine to five job & train two evenings a week. Many of our players/ players from bigger clubs at our level treat football as their main job, as in the one that pays the mortgage & puts food on the table, with a smaller part time job on the side, if at all.
Yeah exactly, I guess as a supporter its about coming to terms with this and understanding that we are going to attract a lot of players and this comes from various parts of the country, not just complete South London.
I'm surprised at that. He looks like a prospect to me and I'd like to think we can match what Welling can offer. Maybe he was promised likely starts that we couldn't guarantee?
Unfortunately a lot of players get to that sort of age these days without making a huge number of appearances. They start as academy players at relatively big clubs and get trapped in a cycle of playingfor development teams and going out on endless loan spells where they may be stuck on the bench for most of the time, then they get released and join a slightly smaller club and the cycle repeats until they find their true level. It happened to Ibra Sekajja before we signed him, and it more or less happened to Danny Carr, Quade Taylor and Michael Chambers in between each of them leaving us then rejoining several years later.
Wikipedia isn't correct on that, he's definitely made more first team appearances than that. States he only played 1 game for Welling United during 17-18 season, however appears a fair bit in their match reports.
I thought Chambers was having a decent season until he was made captain around Christmas (which coincided with us missing Okuonghae alongside him and Kargbo in front of them), then he made a couple of costly gaffes and got sent off at home to Chelmsford and struggled to regain his best form. He's very strong in the air though, and a good ball player, and the balance he gave on the left of the back three was crucial when we played that system. If we're going to play a flat back four it might be less vital to have a naturally left footed centre back as long as we have a decent left back. I'm not sure how comfortably Orlu might slot into that position.
No idea but I'd have thought he might have been offered one for the forthcoming season.
Hope he can make a go of that. A 3 year contract demonstrates faith and commitment on Crawley's part. I felt he had all the tools to be a Football League player - superb footballer and athlete - but somehow never fully blossomed with us. Maybe not quite confident or ruthless enough? I remember him playing against us for a very good Grays side 4 years ago and was a bit surprised he found himself back at our level so soon after getting picked up by a League club.
That's a shame. I thought he had his best spell for us towards the end of the season, although I wouldn't have been surprised if we hadn't kept him on as he seemed a bit injury prone. I think he started a career outside football when he joined us, after being a full time professional all his adult life, so probably not a surprise if he needs to focus on that.
3 first team appearances for the Hamlet, the last in 2017. He started last season with Carshalton Athletic and joined Thamesmead Town shortly before their demise, then moved somewhere else I can't remember before Sheppey. One for the "former players" thread rather than "Hamlet transfers Summer 2019".
