The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Lots of news out of the club this morning regarding players, at last.

https://www.afcdiamonds.com/2022-23-squad-update/

Confirmed as staying so far:

Jesse Akubuine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpyz9-fZHYM
Connor Furlong - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWuX8IX1WOc
Ryan Hughes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJp_ZQtWlz8
Patrick Casey

Also interviews with Burge and Martin Whalley on AFCRDTV:

Burge - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dnrEWDiGwI
Martin Whalley - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VVovy-gpro&t=4s

The goalkeeper in the background during the Whalley video looks a lot like Dean Snedker. I think we can see Jack Snelus in that video too - possibly some others someone on here might be able to decipher!

We know from one of Joseph McCormack's videos that Fernando Bell-Toxtle is currently travelling and will re-join the squad late-August.

In other news Corby have signed Matty Slinn.

What a farce,,,while i was getting excited for squad announcements,,,three of those players we basically knew from the photo at training the other night,,,glad to see them on board though

discodunk wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:44 pm What a farce,,,while i was getting excited for squad announcements,,,three of those players we basically knew from the photo at training the other night,,,glad to see them on board though

I'm inclined to agree with the general point but there's been a lot of communication this morning at least. Maybe some more to come but if not, we'll see them in the flesh in 24hrs anyway.

BartonRaz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 1:11 pm

discodunk wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:44 pm What a farce,,,while i was getting excited for squad announcements,,,three of those players we basically knew from the photo at training the other night,,,glad to see them on board though

I'm inclined to agree with the general point but there's been a lot of communication this morning at least. Maybe some more to come but if not, we'll see them in the flesh in 24hrs anyway.

Thanks for that lads, we should have just stuck a website article out then rather than volunteers go over to training record the interviews, and people make the effort to edit, and plan the announcements throughout the day.

I'm liking the comments coming out of Andy Burgess's Twitter, regarding the retained players and staff, there's a lot of positivity, it's nice to see.

Great amount of content so far today, thanks to everyone who put the time in to organise the articles and interviews

just watched the interview with martin walley(should of watched that before i made my earlier comment ) looks like there some good strong players there,,,,and at least a squad in the making...... phew

Nice to hear some player news, even if it is only four so far!

I have confidence AB will get some more committing, and we’ll hear of any new signings from the club.

Sincerely,
A friend of the board (apparently!)

On the head of performance side of things does any other club in our league do this? We ain’t going too deep into this are we? Players at our level wouldn’t be put off?

Walley mentioned trial & error and what they do in daily life etc.

Am I just just looking too much into this and things like this already happens at clubs which want to progress?

diamondsteve wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:08 pm On the head of performance side of things does any other club in our league do this? We ain’t going too deep into this are we? Players at our level wouldn’t be put off?

Walley mentioned trial & error and what they do in daily life etc.

Am I just just looking too much into this and things like this already happens at clubs which want to progress?

It's a fair question, and I've no idea what the answer would be regarding other clubs at our level. However, the way I would look at it is that clubs at a higher level take this approach, so if we're the only one at our level doing it then that gives us an edge over the competition which could help us attract players. We know we can't compete on wages with a lot of other clubs at our level, so we need to be doing something different. We already have a few players who've come from professional academies (e.g. Tshikuna, Furlong), so in order to retain them and attract others like them we need to be as professional as possible in what we do.