Wilkin makes some moves for Brackley

Callum Stead has signed for Brackley Town. Picture by Peter Short

Boss Kevin Wilkin is overseeing one of the biggest off-season turnaround of players during his tenure at St James Park following the departures of a number of key members of the squad that finished as runners-up in the Vanarama National League North last season.

The likes of Matt Lowe, Lee Ndlovu, Ellis Myles, Louis Lomas, Janaai Gordon and Tre Mitford have all departed since the end of the last campaign.

Wilkin, however, has kept some key players on for the new season and has now made his first moves with the additions of striker Callum Stead and full-back Riccardo Calder.

Stead scored six goals for Kettering Town in the National League North after joining them in February this year while Calder was also with the Poppies at the start of last season before finishing the campaign at Southern League Premier Central side Rushall Olympic.

Wilkin is hoping Stead can help solve the goalscoring problems he felt his team had last season.

And the Brackley boss insists there will be more to come as the build up to August 6 gathers momentum.

“Getting new additions in has been a bit slow this closed season but it’s nice to get a couple on board and start to freshen things up,” the Brackley manager said.

“It’s still fairly early days and there are targets we made a move for but unfortunately missed out on so we have to bide our time and look elsewhere.

“Hopefully there will be two or three more to follow.

“We are pleased with the two boys. They have got to come in now and make their mark and we will give them all the support and encouragement to do so.

“Callum is the sort of player who has the knack of being in the right place at the right time and is capable of working the target on a consistent basis.

“If he can come in and bring that to our game then it can only be a win, win for player and club.

“We didn’t score enough goals last season and we need to try to address that.

“Hopefully we can give Callum the opportunity he is looking for and he can hit the ground running.”

Brackley play the first of five pre-season friendlies on Saturday when they entertain National League side Solihull Moors.