IT HAS often been said that a week is a long time in football, but whoever coined the phrase can never had experienced the transfer merry-go-round witnessed recently by Radcliffe Borough
Having sold Jody Banim to Conference promotion hopefuls Shrewsbury Town for a £20,000, Boro manager Kevin Glendon has since swapped striker Chris Denham for Steve Foster in a deal worth £2,000 with Stalybridge Celtic.
He followed it up this week with the capture of strikers Josh Mitten from Curzon Ashton and Robbie Whellans from Harrogate Town, along with that of centre-back Neil Whitworth from Southport, who will all enter Stainton Park through the in-door.
Meanwhile, exiting through the out-door, along with Banim and Denham, are midfielder Ian Bishop and defender Dave Bean.
Twenty-six-year-old Mitten from Curzon is on a goal-a-game so far this season with 20 strikes from 20 league and cup starts for the North West Counties League first division side and joins Boro on a free.
"He's very raw and aggressive," said Glendon: "He's always battered us when he's played against us but for a big lad he has a good touch."
Whellans joins Boro from fellow Unibond League premier division outfit Harrogate Town on a month's loan.The experienced 34-year-old started his career at Bradford City, before playing for Harrogate Town, Frickley Athletic, Harrogate Railway and Farsley Celtic, where he made over 400 appearances and scored nearly 200 goals. He rejoined Town in July 2001, and was top goal scorer in both the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons.
Whellans is cup-tied and could not have played tomorrow, so he will join the club on Monday, along with centre back Neil Whitworth (who is also cup-tied), and, having signed three fowards in just over a week, Glendon is trying to find a defensive partner for Whitworth.
The big centre-back, who has impressive league experience in both England and Scotland, also joins Boro on a month's loan.
Glendon has also put in a written four-figure offer to premier division bottom club Burscough for former Liverpool starlet Steve McNulty, who he would like to pair-up with Whitworth.
The 19-year-old centre-back signed for Burscough in August 2003. Before that he was captain of the Liverpool Academy Under-19s and progressed to the reserves before being released by the Reds in June 2003. He also had short spell at Chester City.
It was last Friday that Boro completed the deal that saw 21-year-old striker Chris Denham going back to Stalybridge for £2,000, with Celtic's Steve Foster making the opposite journey from Bower Fold to Stainton Park.
Denham made a Lazarus-like recovery from a knee injury that was due to keep him out of football for up to six weeks to bag a hat-trick in Celtic's 3-3 draw with Wakefield on his return to the club he left in the summer.
A second departure on the eve of last Saturday's home defeat to second-placed Hucknall Town, saw ex-Manchester City midfield maestro Ian Bishop released.
While the club's longest serving player and former captain, David Bean, is another departure. In 10 seasons, the 31-year-old made 410 appearances for the club.
Explaining the comings and goings, Glendon said: "I've been wanting to change things for a while but I had to part with some lads first."
"These new lads are all different types to the ones we've had before. There should be a noticeable difference in work ethic and we are going to play a bit more methodical."
Tomorrow Boro visit Whitby Town in the third round of the Unibond League Challenge Cup. The teams last met in the league on November 22, when Boro suffered a humiliating 5-0 home defeat, which saw Town complete the double over Boro.
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