Matthew Burgess reflects on a busy day for The New Saints and the challenge facing Scott Ruscoe this summer
Manager Scott Ruscoe has only made subtle changes since replacing Craig Harrison a year ago. And on the day where Harrison returned to the Welsh domestic game with crisis-stricken Bangor City, Ruscoe has coincidentally taken the first steps on putting his own stamp on The New Saints squad.
Having delivered the League Cup trophy and WPL title, in a league campaign which was never in doubt, Ruscoe can look back on his first season in charge with a sense of pride.
He has little time to reflect however, with the club locked into an annual competitive calendar. When the domestic season ends the Saints quickly shift their attentions to the European qualifying rounds which fills the void during the off-season months, forcing the club to act swiftly in strengthening their squad.
Eight players, all out of contract, officially left the club earlier today leaving Ruscoe with space in both personnel and his playing budget to recruit as he lays out his plans for the club’s perennial European attempts.
The departure of centre-back Connell Rawlinson would’ve been unwanted but it would’ve been a blow that Ruscoe would have been braced for. With time dwindling away on his contract and talks of an extension at a stalemate, Ruscoe had little chance of convincing Rawlinson to extend his stay with Port Vale sniffing around. And who can blame Rawlinson? A contract in the Football League will be the biggest opportunity of 26-year-old’s career and The New Saints will have been the first to wish him well.
It does however leave Ruscoe with a pressing need to add to his defence, particularly with the confirmation that fellow defenders Stephen Saunders and Ryan Pryce are also moving on. The trio combined for 44 league appearances last season – a number which surely would have been higher if Saunders had not spend much of the year sidelined by injury. Blaine Hudson is currently the only recognised centre-back on the books and between now and July 10th – the date The New Saints play their first European game – this will need to be addressed. Full-back Pryce, who spent time out on loan with Cefn Druids, was never quite able to pin down a first-team place ahead of Chris Marriott and Simon Spender and a move to Jamie Vardy’s academy could give the 20-year-old a clean slate in which to launch his professional career. With three experienced first-team defenders moving on Ruscoe has little choice but to add to his current defensive options.
I am told The New Saints plan to bring in as many as six new signings and the first of which could be announced fairly soon.
Another goalkeeper to deputise for Paul Harrison, now 33, will also be on Ruscoe’s shopping list with young back-ups Jones and Wycherley not having their contracts extended.
Ex-Motherwell forward Wes Fletcher was one of the notable names on today’s exit list. Fletcher, 27, score six in 13 starts this season despite often being accommodated in a wider role off main-striker Greg Draper. The form of two of Ruscoe’s mid-season signings, Dean Ebbe and Estonian Kevin Kauber forced Fletcher down the Saints pecking order but if he is willing to take on a semi-pro contract, you sense that Fletcher could do quite a job at another Welsh Premier club.
If Ruscoe does bring in six players during the summer, then nine of the current squad will be his players and the club will have taken another step on from the Craig Harrison-era. The composition, personnel and chemistry of The New Saints squad will have changed somewhat from when Harrison held the reigns as Ruscoe, approaching his second full season in charge, re-shapes the team who everybody is trying to compete with.