As the squad for 22-23 begins to take shape, we are happy to report that three more players have signed on the dotted line for the season ahead: Nathan Smith, Jon Muleba, and Lewis Taaffe have all agreed terms to stay at Donkey Lane for another season. Welcome back, lads!
We’re pleased to confirm two more additions to our pre-season calendar for the 2022-23 season.
We are pleased to announce that two more of last season’s squad, skipper Scott Thomas and defender Rian Bray, have been retained.
As the squad continues to take shape, Scott (pictured) and Rian have both committed themselves to the club for the forthcoming campaign.
COYT!
When James Dayton, our newly-signed winger, was offered the chance to come and play for Enfield Town, he didn’t think twice, writes Andrew Warshaw.
Born in the borough, James lived much of his early life in Ladysmith Road not far from the QEII and, as a four-year-old, would go and watch the old Enfield.
Not just watch. He also played for them even though he hadn’t reached the requisite age of five.
“My step grandad took me over to the club and told them they had to take me even though I was still only four,” James explained. “I ended up playing a year above my age, if you like.”
The rest, as they say, is history. James joined Crystal Palace as a 10-year-old and, when the time arrived, went on to enjoy a long professional career that embraced clubs in both England and Scotland.
Now 33, after a season at national league south Dulwich Hamlet, he is coming back to his roots even though he had several other offers.
“I’m getting on a bit now and whilst it might sound cliched, the chance to come back and go full circle, if you like, is a wonderful feeling,” said James. “The gaffer didn’t really need to sell me the club. I knew last year they just fell short so I’m here to try and help them go one better.”
“The first two training sessions have been great. The lads have really welcomed me. I could tell straight away why they’ve been up there for the last couple of campaigns. I can already see the togetherness in the group. That counts for a lot when you want to push for promotion.”
James is too modest to say what qualities he will bring to the club but 17 years of experience is certainly one of them.
“I may have lost a little bit of pace but I want to help in any way I can. I’ve won two promotions and what I will say is that I will give 100 percent in every game.”
We are very pleased to confirm that Sam Youngs and Adam Cunnington have agreed terms to stay with Enfield Town for another season.
Midfielder Sam (pictured) has clocked up 194 competitive appearances for the Town, and won last year’s Goal of the Season, Players’ Player & Members’ Player of the Year awards while forward Adam assisted 11 goals and scored seven times last term, including crucial goals against Hornchurch and Bognor Regis.
We are delighted to announce the signings of experienced winger James Dayton and exciting young striker Marcus Wyllie.
Enfield-born James, who began his career at Crystal Palace, most recently turned out for Dulwich Hamlet – and also counts Leyton Orient, Oldham and Kilmarnock among his former sides.
Manager Andy Leese (pictured with James) commented: “We are very pleased to get James to the club. He’s a very experienced player who will bring some real quality to the group.”
“As an ex-professional with plenty of promotions under his belt, he brings a winning mentality into the squad. He’s a great lad who really wanted to be here. He’s an Enfield lad who and returns to where his football journey began as a young boy.”
Also joining us this season is exciting young striker Marcus Wyllie. Marcus signs from Risborough Rangers, who described him as having “the ability to score goals at will” – he chalked up an impressive 36 of them last term.
“Marcus has come to us highly recommended by no less than one of ETFC’s former favourites!” said the manager. “He has developed in the last two seasons, and is hungry to take his chance at this level. We look forward to working with Marcus in pre-season and hopefully he will pick up where he left off last season scoring goals.”
After 94 appearances, seven goals and a stint as captain across a couple of spells with us, midfielder Percy Kiangebeni has departed the club. We thank Percy for his service and wish him all the best. We hope to bring you more news of how the squad is taking shape over the coming days.
All the best to midfielder Manny Maja who has decided to move on up the League pyramid. Our Young Player of the Year for 21-22, he made 35 appearances for the Town, and was Man of the Match 3 times – we wish him well for a very bright future!
I hope you are all enjoying the summer and are slowly getting over the disappointment of our play-off defeat?!
The board and management team are fully focussed on the new season ahead and are working hard to provide the best budget and playing squad for the new campaign. The management staff of Andy, Mario, Ian, Jake & John are all committed to another year and are determined to build on the improvement that we saw last season.
On the playing front, as a club we don’t operate with too many contracts so we have to wait until league registration forms are issued before “signing” and announcing players. I appreciate that there is always a thirst for information at this time of year, but please be patient with us. Our trial matches start this weekend and pre-season training commences at the end of next week, it’s at this point that you will start to see announcements of players re-signing or joining the club.
All of last season’s squad were invited to return for pre-season, but as happens every year, some players decide that their futures belong elsewhere. As such, we have already seen two players announce moves to other clubs – Jerry Gyebi has decided to try his luck higher up the pyramid and Harold Joseph has accepted an offer from Cray Wanderers. Both players have been a credit to the club and we wish them well with their new endeavours.
We expect that another two or three of last season’s squad may also move on, however we have a number of exciting new additions who we are talking to and hope to be able to talk more about these in the coming weeks.
The pre-season schedule has been published and gives us a good mix of games to prepare for the 2022/3 term – We expect the league fixture to be announced towards the middle of next month.
Season tickets and friendly match tickets are now available to purchase online – https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/ . The Go To Town monthly scheme will continue and we will be in touch with packages in the coming week. All ticket and package prices have been frozen for 2022/3 and we look forward to seeing you all back at the QES very soon.
Up The Town!
Paul Reed
Huge congratulations to ETFC life president Roger Reed, father of Town chairman Paul Reed, writes Andrew Warshaw.
Roger has just been made a Life Member of the Isthmian League, an incredibly rare accolade awarded at last Saturday’s AGM in Brighton when Roger stepped down as a board member after acquiring almost legendary status.
The announcement, in front of scores of Isthmian League clubs who gave Roger (pictured with Isthmian League chairman Nick Robinson) a rousing ovation, means he is one of only two life members currently living.
In the entire history of the league, founded in 1905, only small group of officials have ever been made Life Members – including none other than the late chairman of the Football Association and ex-Fifa president Sir Stanley Rous.
“I had no idea about the award,” said Roger who, at 75, has decided to call time on his invaluable work on the Isthmian League board where he was primarily responsible for maintaining standards through ground grading.
“I thought they would do something for me but not that. I was bowled over by it. To be honest, it’s still sinking in. I’m immensely proud.”
“I never dreamed for 10 seconds that I’d end up a Life Member of the League. I just did what I did because I had the knowledge and the time.”
“One of the things I enjoyed most was giving advice to clubs on how to improve their facilities in the most cost-effective way.”
Now retired, will he miss it? “Yes and no,” says Roger. “I must have visited literally hundreds of clubs. I decided to retire because of my age. I don’t quite have the energy any more to drive all those long distances. But I’ll miss being on the inside track, if you like. However, now I can relax and do other things. And of course I’ll still be coming to watch The Town as often as I can.”
We are delighted to confirm that our near-neighbours Tottenham Hotspur, whose training ground is a stone’s throw from the QEII, have again kindly agreed to provide invaluable opposition as part of our early pre-season preparations.
Tottenham’s Development Squad, who will this season revert to competing as Under-21s, will visit us on Tuesday, July 12, at 7pm.
The fixture is bound to generate enormous interest and tickets can be purchased in advance on the following link:
https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/event/ent2223120722/enfield-town-v-tottenham-hotspur-u21s
