It all started on my arrival in Barcelona airport, just as I switched my phone back on expecting the usual welcome from the local Vodaphone service I got the somewhat surprising news that Patrick Flynn had been released. Surprising because I think most Harriers fans had been pleased with his efforts so far in actually looking like a half decent defender. Something that we had been missing for a long time.We knew that he was only on a short term contract and it turns out that he wanted a bit more than that and who can blame him.
Sometime before the weekend it also seems that the Harriers long serving physio, Jimmy Conway, had left the club under a cloud. I can't go into anymore detail here but it was well known that he was not a pleasant man and not too popular with the fans and many others within the club.
Since the episode at Grimsby when Youssou Diop refused to be treated by him and the various reports of other clubs not allowing loanees to be under his care it was obvious that Conway was a liability and had to go.
On Thursday we released a couple more players in Martin O'Connor and Marc Pugh, who returned to his club, Burnley, after his loan spell was cut short for the second time. This is thought to be linked with the dismissal of Jimmy Conway.
It's well known that Martin O'Connor would be leaving anyway after he failed to land the managers job, given to Mark Yates, and that his injury was never going to clear up and age was not on his side. His stint as caretaker manager never worked and we only managed wins in the cup games but none at all in the League during his seven games in charge.The Harriers had a good weekend at Southport while my wife was having her purse stolen on the underground so the fans at home had a whole weekend to be cheerful before the next round of comings and goings. This morning came the news that Chris McHale and Jermaine Hollis had left the club and then this evening the rumours that the former Shrewsbury midfielder, Jake Sedgemore, was joining the club were confirmed.
McHale was once a promising young player for us when he first made his appearance during Jan Molby's time in charge but he also lost chunks of time when he broke a bone in his foot at Hull City in a 2-1 defeat in 2001. He never really recovered from that and so never became a regular player under and subsequent manager.
Hollis was also supposed to be one for the future but, apart from just one game for us in our final League game at Northampton last season, we have never really seen what he could be capable of.
It's the final day of this ludicrous transfer window tomorrow so we might see some more action within the squad but then again we might not. If there is then there'll be an update on here as soon as possible.
