We are pleased to announce that Goalkeeper – Simon Grant has signed for the club.
Simon will be well known to the Basingstoke faithful having featured for both Bracknell and Marlow in recent seasons. He’s also been a part of successful Slough Town and AFC Hayes sides. He’ll be best known however for his spell at Marlow that was to last the best part of 10 years in which time he made 366 appearances and kept 84 clean sheets.
“Simon is fantastic goalkeeper.” says Dan Brownlie “He’s a real force, a presence and highly committed. It’s fair to say we’ve had our battles against him in the past; his desire to win was clear in every moment. He’s trained with us already this week. Whilst it will take time for him to establish that understanding with our back line – the early signs were really promising.”
“Like all players we look to sign – we do our research. Not always easy when you have limited mutual connections but with such locality to this signing – it was easy to do with Simon. I have to admit, I was blown away with the reaction of former managers, old teammates and club connections. We’ve had positive reviews previously, but not quite like this – ‘get him, just get him’ was a common response.”
New signing Simon said: “I’m really pleased to get this done – it’s an exciting opportunity. I’m looking forward to working with the Gaffer, the lads and working on behalf of the supporters! Saturday can’t come soon enough – we’ll be working for that result.”
Dan Brownlie added: “Whilst this is a celebration of a great signing – to keep supporters in the loop; I spoke with Mark & Struds earlier in the week. It was important that they received a full explanation of my thinking ahead of time – especially with what they’ve both done for this club. They’ve both been afforded complete freedom of thought about what’s next for them and we’ll support them with any decision made, but as they already know, we want them to stay. It’s possible that Mark will go out on a dual registration to gain some consistent game time – sadly something he’s not had all season. We’ll keep supporters updated if any movements are to be had.”
We’d like to thank Bracknell Town for the smooth process in which allowed us to sign him ahead of Saturday afternoon. We are awaiting final league approval but it is expected that Simon will be part of tomorrow’s match day squad when we travel to London to face Hanwell Town.