ACCRINGTON Stanley’s players returned to Pre-Season training on Monday morning, as the club prepares for another assault on the npower League Two.
The Reds returned after an end of season break, without Darren Kempson, Robert Grant, Michael Symes, John Miles, Gary King and John Mullin – who have all left the club.
Kempson and Miles have both dropped down a division and will play in the Blue Square Premier next season, after turning down new contracts with Accrington. Kempson, has joined recently relegated Grimsby Town, while Miles u-turned on his Stanley contract to sign for Fleetwood Town.
Grant has signed a three-year contract with npower Championship side Scunthorpe United for a fee understood to be around £130,000, while Symes signed for League One side Bournemouth after refusing new terms in East Lancashire.
Manager John Coleman told the official accringtonstanley.co.uk website: “As much as you want to keep together a squad that I thought was very good last season it`s happened to us before, we`ve lost good players and we`ve had to move on and we`ll do the same this time.”
Hinckley is the new club for striker King, following his release at the end of last season, whereas former Premier League star Mullin is currently without a club.
Three new faces will be joining Coley’s squad though, with Blackburn Rovers defender Michael Hall signing a one-year contract along with former loan star Craig Lindfield returning on a permanent deal after leaving Macclesfield Town.
Leicester City goalkeeper Alex Cisak has also put pen to paper on a deal with the club, and will be handed the number one shirt at the Crown Ground.
But Coleman isn’t going to stop there, he insisted that he wants up to five more players on board before the start of the season, and will once again be casting an eye over a number of trialists, including former Coventry City defender Curtis Wynter, who was released by the Championship side at the end of last season.
“There are a lot of trialists here and hopefully some of those will come through and sign for us. We`ve lost quite a few players from last season`s squad and that`s disappointing but we`re moving on.”
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