Wealdstone FC Introduce Michael Shaw
Wealdstone confirmed the hiring of Michael Shaw as the Director of Football for the club. Shaw, coming out of the sports marketing world, is going headlong into his first job in the world of professional football.
"The ambition of this club is what attracted me," said Shaw. "This club has had a long history in the lower leagues, and now we find ourselves in the fifth tier for the first time in 32 years. The directors want to solidify this position, and with a new manager and a new focus on building a proper backroom staff to help this club forward, I feel that my skills can help in that."
The 43-year-old from Kingsnorth signed a two-year contract with the club and said his first assignment was to put together a scouting staff.
"We need a team of guys," said Shaw. "It can't just be one guy trying to make all the decisions."
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Wealdstone Announce Two Arrivals
Today, Wealdstone announced the arrival of two loans.
23-year-old central midfielder Tom Holland has arrived on an eight-month loan from Welsh side TNS. Holland only made three appearances for TNS last season but does have 61 career appearances for the club over three seasons. Holland is expected to slot straight into the starting lineup.
Wealdstone also took advantage of their link with EPL side Watford in bringing in 18-year-old striker JJ McKiernan. McKiernan will be looking to make his professional football debut for the club. McKiernan is a natural striker, however, it is possible that Welch could use the youngster as an attacking midfielder.
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Overall, I feel we had a very solid preseason. We didn't lose any matches, we got through the matches with zero injuries, and the lads seemed to be acclimating to the tactical system I'm looking to implement.
There is one area of disagreement between me and Stuart. In five preseason friendlies, we missed all of our 26 shots from outside the box. Stuart feels like we should work the ball into the penalty box, while I'm not sure we have the technical ability to do that. Personally, I'm all for pressuring the keeper with shots.
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Projected Lineup
Media Prediction: 19th