As supporters will have seen during Pre-Season, we have been operating with a large group of players and have often fielded two completely different teams from one half of a game to the next.

 

Simon and his management team have been using these matches to assess the squad requirements for the coming season with a view to bringing the squad size down to around 20 players.

 

At this level of football, lads don’t need to hang around on the edges of any squad hoping for a chance to get in the team, as they can virtually always get themselves sorted with another club at the same or a similar level. It’s a cruel game at times like this but that is football at this level.

 

Simon having assessed his squad over this pre-season has come to the decision to release 4 players; Emini Adegbenro, Elliot Nevitt, Declan Gregson and Allen Weston.

 

We wish Emini the best of luck with his future which sadly won’t be with the Purps.

 

Declan and Elliot will always be welcome back at COLFC having played thier part in our 1st and highly successul season and both having made major contributions. Declan was with us from the very start and after an injury plagued start to the season, really came to the fore out wide on the left and right wings, running at defenders and swinging great crosses into the box.

 

Elliot is just an absolute physical beast who has all of the skills required to go as far as he wants in football and at just 19 years of age has all the time in the world to get it right, but work commitments have hampered his ability to train and play for us.

 

Both of these lads are welcome back at the club anytime as players or supporters and both can rest assured that they have played their part in the history of COLFC.

 

What can be said about Allen Weston?

 

With us from the very start and with the heart of a lion that was displayed on the pitch for the Purples, it is fair to say that everybody associated with the club, including Simon Burton, is gutted that Weso is moving on.

 

Weso was not only the heart of the team on the pitch but also a brilliant ambassador off it, beloved by the army of Purple kids who follow us everywhere and the Partisans who recognised his contribution to the team and the club as a whole.

 

Ultimately, the Manager (be it Simon Burton or anybody else) has to make decisions that he believes are right for the club at any given time. He has to trust in his own judgement because ultimately he himself will stand or fall by those decisions. That’s football at any level of the game and he has a responsibility to the club to make these kind of decisions, as difficult as they can be.

 

Having been informed last night that Weso was being released, we spoke to the lad and offered him a role in the club that we believed could be beneficial to all parties. Weso has intimated to us on a couple of occasions that he wants to get into management ( especially with the Purps!) so we offered him the opportunity to take on a Player / Coach role with our reserve team working with Tom O’Hanlon, with a view to him taking his coaching badges, getting some practical coaching experience and moving towards management, whilst at the same time carrying on his ambassadorial role for the club.

 

Allen has slept on it overnight and decided that he wants to carry on playing for as long as possible at as high a level as possible and that is absolutely his right.

 

We wish Allen all the best for his immediate future and as with the other lads, thank him for his service to the club so far and for his commitment to the cause both on and off the pitch.

 

He has his place in our history!