Newcastle Secure Malbon

Highly rated young striker Anthony Malbon (pictured) has put pen to paper and signed a contract for Newcastle Town.

Teams such as Stockport County, Burton Albion, Kidsgrove Atletic and Leek Town had all shown interest in the player but following discussions with the Club the player was happy to sign on the dotted line and is now looking forward to a settled season in Town's colours.

This is the second time that Malbon has been at Castle having played six games on loan from Port Vale and scoring 3 goals last season.

The player also reached double figures for Leek Town towards the end of last season having been released by the Vale.

Manager John Diskin was delighted to have the player settled at the club saying that it would end the speculation and tapping up that has been going on with the player in recent weeks. "We'll see how it goes this season and decide together with the player at the end of it where we go from here with him. I have not ruled out putting other younsters that we want tied to the club on contract."

The Club also feel that this signing together with having Dave MacPherson and Dave Whittaker on board will help to attract other players to the club as Castle look to be building what appears to be a decent outfit.

Following the departure of the Management Team and Players it is not surprising that there are a lot of new faces around.

Ian Willis and Wayne Teague are still at the club from last season and they have been joined by one or two familiar faces. Ryan Connor is back having played last season on his release from Stoke City, although he finished on loan at Stone Dominoes.

Jon Ritchie is back between the posts for his second spell with Newcastle – since he left he has been at Vauxhall motors and has played in Cyprus. Another player who needs no introduction is Dave Harper who played at kidsgrove last season.

Striker Leon Ashman is back following a spell at Leek Town and winger Ashley Miller has rejoined following spells at Leek Town and Norton United.

The club's first signing of the summer was Dave MacPherson from Witton Albion. MacPherson has had spells at Stafford Rangers, Leek Town and Nantwich Town.

Club Secretary Raymond Tatton says he is pleased with how the squad is shaping up, and added, "Ben Clarkson has joined from the now defunct Biddulph side and Darren Chadwick has come in from Alsager Town. Aaron Carter has arrived from Nantwich Town to stake a claim for a place and another Nantwich player has arrived in the shape of Kyle Blake who used to be at Doncaster.

"We were interested in Kyle last season but he plumped for the team higher up the Pyramid. James Gartside has made the short journey from up the road at Redgate and has been compared to Jordan Johnson (now at Telford) so there’s no pressure there to perform at the same level. He will surprise a few. Also arriving from the Staffs Senior League is Adam Sawyer who was a regular marksman for champions Ball Haye Green.

"There are a few others in the pipeline both new and old so it’s a great start for the boys in putting their squad together that will be competitive. I suppose I’d better mention Chris Coleman, Kyle Diskin, Nathan Sutton, Kieron Williams, Curtis Price, Jake Stribling and Sam Bradbury who will be pushing to make the step up to the First Team this season – they didn’t make a bad start at Kidsgrove last season."

Another new face at Newcastle Town is Gareth Richards who joins the Board of Directors.Gareth is the owner and Managing Director of Apollo Flooring, having sponsored the Club in various ways as well as being a supporter. The main stand (The Apollo Stand) at the Lyme Valley is named after his firm. He is also a Director and Third Owner of Diamond Edge Marketing Ltd and his appointment to the Board is seen as another big step forward for the Club.