After a trio of announcements over the last two days we caught up with Craig Rouse to discuss his latest incomings.
You have brought Jake Greatorex in, what can we expect from him?
Despite being young, especially in goalkeeping terms, Jake already has a lot of experience. He’s a confident lad who backs his own ability and will only get stronger as time goes by. More importantly he’s come in and fit in well with the group and struck up a good relationship with Ryan. We’re looking forward to watching those two push each other and give us a good solid platform.
How important is it to have good competition for places in this area of the pitch?
Like any area of the pitch, players thrive and improve with competition so this will be no different. Already you can see the teo ‘keepers working hard and competing which can only be positive for the two of them and the club as an whole.
Onto Callum, what can we expect from him this season?
Callum is a young lad who I’ve been aware of for a while and we invited him in to come and train with us a few weeks ago. He’s really impressed the management team with his performances and his maturity for such a young lad and has settled in well with the group.
What will he bring to our defensive options?
Defensively we felt a few weeks ago that we were a little bit light in terms of numbers and competition, so that’s something we wanted to address. Over the last two weeks we’ve added both Noah and Callum and now we feel the competition and strength in depth in that position is something that will stand us in good stead moving forward.
How pleased are you to bring in a lad that knows where the net is (Layton Swaine)?
Layton is no stranger to the club and the people around it and needs no introduction. Technically he’s a very good player and given chances will score goals, as we’ve seen in the past. Technically he’s a very good player and a good striker of the ball. We hope to see him repeat the form he’d started to show in his previous spell with us.
What can we expect from Layton?
Again we hope to see him come in and create really strong competition across the front line. He’s a lad who can play a number of positions in attacking areas, so gives us great options and I feel he’ll come in and complement the lads we already have at the club in those positions.
Finally, are you pleased with the recent business you’ve been able to finalise? And are there any further plans?
As stated a few weeks ago we felt we needed to add depth and competition to the squad.
We were really pleased with the players we already had at the club but felt we were a little bit light in terms of numbers and competition as we found out after the 10 day enforced covid break. We identified the positions we felt we needed more competition and set about bringing the right types of people and players in. The three lads are all at an age where they’ll still improve and we hope to see that happen with us.
We are happy with the players that we’re working with and don’t have any immediate plans to bring anyone else into the group.