We caught up with First Team Manager Craig Rouse to discuss his latest recruits (Derry Robson and Jack Vann, we also discussed the squad he and his management team are building and the prospect of an exciting league for next season.
Derry Robson was announced on Thursday, first tell us what he will bring to the squad?
As soon as we were alerted to Derry’s availability we acted as swiftly as possible to bring him to the club. Derry is a player with bags of energy who’s work rate leads by example and allows others to follow. He can operate in numerous positions in midfield, but also chips in with a fair amount of goals too. He’s been an almost ever present in a good Belper side, that would have finished in the play off positions over the last two disrupted seasons so comes to us at a great time for us.
Today we announced another key addition in Jack Vann, how pleased are you bringing him to the club and what impact can we expect him to make?
I’m delighted to bring Jack to the club, he has been a long term target of mine for a few seasons now. Despite being fairly young in footballing terms, he has played a lot of games at this level and over the last few years I’ve watched him operate in three or four different positions for both Ossett and Tadcaster. We’ll now be looking to settle him down into a more settled role within the team, so he can start to unlock the potential that we know he has. He’s a brilliant competitor and he’ll work hard for his team mates which is a good trait to have.
Both lads have a lot of experience at this level, is that something you were looking to add to the group?
The experience that the two lads bring will be vital throughout certain points of the season, but more importantly they are both good lads on and off the pitch so will fit in with the group of players we already have at the club. They both come to us from sides who’ve done well in recent years too, so come in with the habit of winning football matches which can only be a bonus.
The squad is really taking shape, can we expect anymore additions?
As a management team we’re happy with how the squad is taking shape. I feel you always have to be prepared for every eventuality in terms of recruitment, but we’re happy where we are at present. To answer the question we’d perhaps like one more player through the door before pre season, but it would need to be the right player/character to complement what we already have.
Finally we have seen what the league will look like now, give us your thoughts on what we can expect?
I think all the clubs/managers throughout the league should be excited about the makeup of the teams in the division. It’s obviously reduced travel for all clubs and seems a very good competitive league, where a lot of sides will take points off each other so we can’t wait to get started.