The club can this morning confirm that we have reluctantly agreed to release Jim Mutton from his contract. Jim has recently moved to Manchester and is hopeful of securing a move to a club closer to his home (awaiting FA approval). Jimmy has been a stalwart at the heart of our defence for the last 4 years and will no doubt be a big loss for the club.

Neil Tooth had the following to say, “Jimmy has been excellent for us and its not been an easy decision to let him go as players like Jim are hard to come by at our level. With him moving to Manchester we have tried to work round it but on Saturday it took him 3 hours to get to Spalding and that’s not the kind of preparation a player needs before going into a game where you are expecting high levels of performance so we have decided to let Jim find a club closer to home. Its been hard as Jimmy is a big character in our dressing room and he will be missed both on and off the pitch but it’s the right decision for all parties I think.”

Also moving on is Nick Okoro who has secured a move into professional football with Romanian League 1 side Gaz Metan Medias.

Toothy had the following to say on Nicks departure, “We are absolutely delighted for Nick and it goes to show that being released from a pro club doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road. Nick has worked really hard on aspects of his game and we have seen the continued improvements the more he played . He came in pre season fitter and stronger and this move is just reward for all of his efforts. The management team should take some pride from this too as its another player that has come out of a pro club that we have helped to get back into full time football. It also sends out a good message for any young footballer that if you drop into non league and play regular football you can get back into the full time game.”

Joining the club are Tom Massey and Jake Bloomer both on duel registration from Bromsgrove Sporting. Toothy had the following to say about his new recruits. “Tom and Jake are both young lads that are highly thought of at Bromsgrove and Bren has sent them out to us to get valuable experience and game time. They are both really good players that give us a number of different options so I’m grateful to Bren for allowing them to join us.”