Skipper commits as Wade gets busy

Evo-Stik Northern Premier League Blyth Spartans have secured six of last season’s squad and manager Tom Wade reckons he could add four new faces by the weekend.

Captain Robbie Dale, pictured, defender Danny Parker, midfielders Lewis Horner, Arran Wearmouth and Matthew Wade and top scorer Dan Maguire, all committed to another season at Croft Park on Wednesday as the club’s summer transfer activity got underway in earnest.

Along with assistant manager Colin Myers, Wade says he has been working hard to bring a number of new players into the Premier Division club this week and is now "confident" that a break-through is close.

Wade said: "The six lads committing to the club for the new season is a fantastic start to our squad building. We know we need to strengthen so we can give ourselves the best possible chance of improving on last year’s progress and that is something we are working on everyday.

"There has been a lot of hard work put in by myself and Colin to bring in new players to compliment what we have. I’m confident that we are close to a breakthrough and it certainly won’t be for the lack of trying. We hope to make an announcement over the weekend on four new additions and they are players who excite us and hopefully will excite the supporters.

"Players coming in have to fit the profile of what we want from our players and of course have to fit in with the excellent team spirit that we already have. Both Colin and myself have discussed each and every target at length and we have done our background work. We have identified them and got a feel for how they are."

* Full interviews with current members of the Spartans squad and any new faces will be available on the club’s official YouTube channel BSAFCTV when pre-season training gets underway in late June.