Seadogs supporters urged to return in numbers

Scarborough Athletic midfielder Jimmy Beadle is calling for a huge fan backing when the new EVO-STIK League season gets underway, writes Martin Dowey.

The former Scarborough FC man, pictured centre, is hoping the current crop of players can attract the kind of support that followed the First Division North club in its infancy.

Rudy Funk's squad returned to pre-season training at Hull University on Tuesday night and among the new faces on show were former Hull attacker Danny Chambers, Zeph Thomas, Steve Burton, Jarrod Smalley, Tom Burgin, Paul Robson and the returning Jimmy Ghaichem.

In an interview with The Scarborough News on Friday, Beadle urged supporters to return in numbers. He said: "We want more fans down this season to back us. We are playing in the northern division this season, so there should be a lot more interest. I can remember watching Boro in the NCEL premier and division one and there were 600 or 700 fans there.

"We are now at a higher division with better players and it seems to have died off a bit. I understand that we are playing out of town and it is expensive, but it would be brilliant if we could get that kind of backing again.”

"This is my first pre-season in three years. The first session was hard, but it wouldn’t be worth doing if it wasn’t. I’m really looking forward to this season now. Maybe it is time to grow up a bit and start concentrating on my football. I’ve set myself a few targets like winning the league and grabbing all the awards at the end of the season.

"I can’t imagine I’ll get the top-scorer because Gary Bradshaw takes the penalties. I was top-scorer twice for Whitby in the division above though, so who knows?"

Image courtesy of www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk