Hitchin Town Football Club
Founded 1865, Reformed 1928
Rumours of player loss premature
Wednesday, July 7 2004
Hitchin manager Kerry Dixon believes that rumours of a player exodus of Hitchin players are premature and "typical of this stage of the season".
Last week, Bedford manager Nicky Platnaeur claimed he had signed Darran Hay and Stuart Maynard. Hay, who has indicated he wants to stay at Top Field, trained with Hitchin on Tuesday night as did the Canaries other mid-season signings Josh Sozzo and Gavin Jaggard. Paul Covington is currently on his honeymoon. At the moment, Dixon knows he has lost just goalkeeper James Robinson, winger Wayne Mills and midfielder Stuart Lochhead.
A number of players have been tapped up and invited for pre-season training elsewhere, but Dixon is not over-concerned by this. "It's simple," he said. "Clubs like Bedford may have 40 or 50 training with them, but they can't all sign. Some players go to get more money, but often it just isn't there."
Dixon reiterates that Hitchin's budget restrictions not only make it hard to compete in the Southern League Premier Division, but also make team-building during the summer is a patient exercise.
"I'm not making excuses, because we will try our best come what may, but our budget will be among the lowest, if not the lowest in the division. We won't know exactly what we've got in terms of playing resources for at least another 10 days," says Dixon.
