Transfer News

It now looks even more unlikely that Iyseden Christie will ever play for Stevenage Borough again. Christie has spoken out about his loan spell at Kettering Town to the Northants Evening Telegraph. It looks as if Boro accepted a bid from York City sometime last week for them to take Christie on loan until January, before making the move permanent when the transfer window re-opened. This though fell through as Christie rejected the switch stating that the travelling would be too much. A permanent switch elsewhere though still looks likely.

“Kettering know all the details about my situation so there isn’t much to do in terms of negotiations. There are things to work on in agreeing something with Stevenage.”

I think that a deal to take Christie to the A-Line Arena will be done soon and could free up funds for Graham Westley to strengthen other areas of his squad. One name that has been linked with a move to Stevenage is former Rushden defender Jon Ashton. Yesterday’s NLP reported that Ashton had a choice between us and Cambridge United, but we were leading the race for this signature. Grays are known to be struggling financially and chairman Mick Woodward has already demanded 50% pay-cuts for his squad.

The signing of Ashton could be a very good signing. Defensively we have struggled this season, conceding 28 goals in the opening 16 games. Mark Albrighton has yet to find form since his move from Cambridge in the summer leaving just Ronnie Henry and Luke Oliver, who themselves have not been in the greatest form. To be honest I’d say Oliver has been our most consistent centre half so far this season and that is saying something because I don’t rate him as I think he is too mistake prone. If we are going to add to the squad then I think a centre half is paramount and Ashton would be a very good addition to the Boro ranks.

Opponents in the FA Cup, Horsham won their FA Trophy first round tie this weekend, beating Sittingbourne 4-2 at Woodside Road. GW made the trip south to check out the Ryman Premier league side ahead of next weeks game. Horsham came from two goals down to win the game with ex Boro striker Jean-Michel Sigere getting on the scoresheet.