16 first team players have put pen to paper on new one-year contracts to stay at Stockton Town until end of 2021-22 season.
Callum Roberts, Tom Coulthard, Lewis King, Dan McWilliams, Dale Mulligan, Adam Nicholson, Nathan Mulligan, Tom Portas, Jordan Robinson, Peter Bulmer, Jonathan Franks, Kev Hayes, Jamie Owens, Mikey Roberts and Nathan Steel have all agreed new deals until end of the 2021-22 season.
All 16 players also have an option of extending their contracts by a further year should they and the club wish to renew their contracts until Summer 2023.
With Shane Henry already contracted until 2023, this announcement now means that every player except for Max Craggs will remain with the Anchors ahead of next season.
Craggs earlier this week announced his departure due to personal reasons, ahead of the Anchors’ impending promotion to Step Four of the National League System (NLS) this summer.
Manager, Michael Dunwell has hailed this announcement as “massive” in terms of keeping his playing squad together heading into the new campaign, as fans prepare to return to stadiums up and down the country.
Speaking to stocktontownfc.com on the performance of his squad across the last two Coronavirus disrupted campaigns, Dunwell said; “They’ve been excellent through the last two seasons, and they thoroughly deserve their promotion.”
Dunwell also commented on the players’ ambitions to play “high level” football and commitment to the club, saying; “It just shows how well we’ve done as a club that everyone wants to stay and wants to progress through the leagues with Stockton.”
“It’s an exciting period…”
Next season will see Stockton Town move up to step four of the NLS subject to confirmation from the FA and Dunwell feels excited about the upcoming campaign, commenting; “It’s an exciting period for us, going into the new league, and there’s more travelling.”
He also spoke of the fact that the club has retained the vast majority of its squad which is slightly “unusual” for a lower non-league team, yet is pleased that the players clearly have shown “… how committed they are to wanting to play for Stockton.”
On the issue of wider travel than they have been used to in recent seasons playing in the Northern League, Dunwell confirmed that the squad have clarified that the extra travelling won’t impact their personal lives and that they are keen to stay at the club.
Dunwell however has iterated that both the club and players must continue to improve as they move up the football pyramid, saying; “The higher up we go, we’ve got to raise our standards as will they, and I’m sure they will,”
There is very little doubt about failing to make progress with Dunwell confident that the team can build on recent seasons, adding; “They’ve shown that to us, they’ve shown it at Northern League level, but now they need to do it at a higher level.”
Stockton currently contain several players including Franks, King and Roberts who have played at higher levels already in their career, which has left Dunwell intrigued as to how the squad will adapt to the new league.
Speaking about how his players could handle the challenges of promotion into a new league, Dunwell said; “We’ve got half of the squad that have done it at a higher level already, and for some it’s going to be all new to them, but I’m sure they’re going to relish the challenge.”
Clubs were invited to apply for promotion last month with the FA set to confirm which teams will be promoted to the new division on Monday 17 May 2021.
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