News - Index 2003/04

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Loan Signing

05/10/03

The Daggers signed Dean Beckwith from Gillingham on loan during last week to cover the current injury crisis. Garry Hill contacted The Gills asking if they had any players available to help solve the defensive problem caused by Matthews' injury, Cole's suspension and Smith's decision to walk out. He took the number 5 shirt and made his debut against Chester in a 0-0 draw. He is 6ft 3in tall and 20 years old.

News Update

28/09/03

Firstly, apologies for the recent lack of updates and match reports. I have just started university and it is taking some time for me to get my computer set up in my accomodation there which is casuing a problem with the site. I hope to get back on track as soon as possible. Mark Smith has had his contract terminated last week by mutual consent. He asked for this after him and team-mate Mark Stein decided to leave over the race allegations against Garry Hill. Mark Stein has been transfer listed and will be leaving shortly. Leon Braithwaite also asked for a transfer but withdrew the request the next day after deciding he wanted to stay. Meanwhile, The FA have acknowledged receipt of the complaint by Fitzroy Simpson against Garry Hill. Garry Hill and Dave Andrews strenuously deny the allegations.

Two In, One Out

06/09/03

The Daggers have signed two new players to try to arrest the recent slump. Alan Kimble joins after being released by Luton at the end of last season and made his debut in the draw with Telford, winning the Club's Man of the Match award. He has previously played in the Premiership for Wimbledon and is a left back. He is 37 years old and 5ft 8in tall, wearing number 26. The second new signing is Tony Scully who is a left or right winger. He comes in after being non-contract at Peterborough this season, and has previously been with QPR and Cambridge United. He is 27 years old and is 5ft 7in tall, and wears squad number 8. The player leaving is Keith Scott. He was signed in the close season from Leigh RMI and is a big striker. However, he was immediately sent to Tamworth on loan and has subsequently signed for Windsor and Eton on a free transfer, making his debut against Banstead yesterday.

Terry Completes Move

20/08/03

Paul Terry has completed a move to Yeovil Town after thinking over the contract with his family earlier in the week. He passed a medical and will play for the Yeovil Reserves tonight against Cardiff City Reserves. This means he won't be able to collect his England cap from Bobby Robson at Ipswich before tonight's England game as he had previously agreed.

Terry Gone?

16/08/03

Paul Terry will be transfering to Yeovil Town subject to agreeing personal terms. Paul rejected the Daggers' latest contract offer and was rumoured to be unhappy after circulating his name. With the deal expiring next summer, the Daggers have cashed in on one their most prized assets for a rumoured £20,000. Paul sat out the game against Barnet, alledgedly to avoid jeopardising the deal with injury. He joined the Daggers' reserves in 1998 from Charlton where he was an apprentice and has made 213 appearances for the first team scoring 27 goals. Garry Hill has stated on BBC Essex that the Daggers have accepted a bid and Paul will discuss terms this week. Paul will be the 6th player to leave of his own accord this summer, after Junior and West chose to leave, and Heffer and Gothard went to seek regular football. John McGrath also opted for Doncaster over the Daggers.

Stein's Half Century

16/08/03

Mark Stein's hat-trick of clinical finishes against Barnet today took him onto 50 goals for the Daggers. The only player to have scored more in the current squad is Danny Shipp, two short of a full century. Stein's 50 goals have come in just 86 games and includes four hat-tricks. The full list of competitive hat-tricks from Daggers players is listed in the appropriate section.

Scott Out Already

13/08/03

Keith Scott, signed in the close-season as a big target-man forward, has been loaned to Tamworth for three months. The official line is that its to 'get fully fit', but this seems unlikely given the length of the loan and there seemingly being a need for a big man such as him in the Daggers' squad at present. There are rumours of him being available for transfer already.

News Update

10/08/03

The Daggers signed James Pullen late last week on a 3-month contract. Pullen has been at Ipswich since schoolboy and spent one period on loan at Blackpool, playing 15 games. He played twice for Ipswich in his spell there. His contract has a year to run at the Tractor Boys but he has been told he can leave for free, and will be getting some experience with the Daggers whilst still looking for a League club. Mark Bentley and Lee Matthews got some much-needed match fitness with Peterborough on Monday in their reserve-team friendly game with Grays. Both players got the full 90 minutes in order to get them ready for the new season. Bentley hit the woodwork twice before he scored the second goal in a 2-0 win.

News Update

29/07/03

The Daggers have signed experienced striker Keith Scott on a free transfer from Leigh RMI. The 6ft 2in, 36 year old Scott has recently played for Scarborough and Dover, and also had a League career in his younger days. Keith was an target for Garry Hill in the Daggers' second season back in the Conference but he opted for Dover. He has a one in four strike rate across his whole career which includes Colchester, Wycombe, Stoke, Norwich, Swindon and Reading. This season's squad numbers have been announced. All players retained from last season keep their same squad numbers. The spare keeper 13 shirt is likely to go to James Pullen or Paul Rutherford who have been on trial in recent games. Pullen is a former Ipswich keeper and Rutherford comes from Tottenham. Steve Vaughan will gain the 21 shirt if he recovers from his cruciate operation. 1 Tony Roberts 2 Tim Cole 3 Ashley Vickers 4 Lee Goodwin 5 Mark Smith 6 Chris Piper 7 Mark Janney 8 Paul Terry 9 Danny Shipp 10 Mark Stein 11 Paul Bruce 12 Lenny Piper 13 spare keeper TBA 14 Danny Hill 15 Leon Braithwaite 16 Jimmy Jackson 17 Lee Matthews 18 Mark Bentley 19 Tarkan Mustafa 20 Alex Meechan 22 Keith Scott

News Update

04/07/03

The Daggers have failed in their bid to sign Mark Gower from Barnet. Garry Hill has long been looking at Gower as a potential target but a bid believed to be in the region of £15k was rejected by Barnet. He has subsequently moved to Southend for an improved offer. Former Daggers sweeper Mark Rooney has moved to Barnet on a free transfer. Mark was released at the end of last season. The Daggers started pre-season training on Saturday with many new faces in attendance. The Pipers were on holiday but the other new boys were in attendance as well as former PASE boys Tom McGowan and Jamie Murat. Lee Matthews was absent, attending his own wedding. Tony Roberts was on his bike as he is still recovering from a hernia operation. Neale Fenn has come to train with the Daggers whilst Garry Hill decides whether to sign him. The striker, previously at Tottenham, was released by Peterborough at the end of last season where he fell out of favour. Midfielder Steve Vaughan has undergone an operation on a cruciate ligament injury sustained at the end of last season at Woking. Steve had waiting all season for a chance and then got injured within a few minutes of coming on as sub.

Former Dagger Movements

21/06/03

Steve Heffer has today signed for Purfleet, sorry I mean Thurrock FC. This follows keeper Paul Gothard's move to the Ryman club two weeks ago.

West Gone

19/06/03

Daggers striker Steve West has joined Hornchurch. Steve had his only complete season for the Daggers last term and scored 18 goals in 33 starts and 18 sub appearances. In total he took part in 64 games for the Daggers and was joint top League goalscorer last season. It is reported that he 'didn't fit into next season's style', but with three strikers left now a replacement must surely come in and will have to be very good to fill those boots. All the best from DaggerNet Steve.

Two Pipers In

14/06/03

The Piper brothers have signed two year contracts with the Daggers. Both played for Farnborough last season and were out of contract. Rumours of Lenny's arrival have been about for ages, but Chris was thought to be about to sign for Woking. Lenny is 25 and an attacking midfielder with a very impressive goal record. Chris is 21 and can play virtually anywhere, having won a Player of the Year award last season. Also it has emerged that Mark Smith will be retained for next season, having signed a new one-year deal. After he wasn't listed with contract renewals and hadn't been offered a deal towards the end of last season, it was expected he would leave.

Meechan Arrives

11/06/03

As was speculated on DaggerNet 9 days ago, Alex Meechan has signed for the Daggers. The striker, who can also play in a withdrawn role, has been tracked by Garry Hill for 18 months. The Daggers had to pay a nominal fee for the player, as although his contract was up, he is only 23 and so not available for a Bosman move. He averages 1 goal in 3 for Forest Green, and has also played for Swindon and Bristol City in the Football League. The Daggers have now officially signed 4 players, but have lost 8, which includes Junior McDougald and Mark Smith who won't be retained. More arrivals are expected, with Piper and Fenn negotiations still in progress. Speculation involving keeper Paul Nicholls, who played in friendlies for the Daggers a few years ago, and Junior Agogo, has also surfaced.

New Contracts

05/06/03

Danny Hill, Mark Janney and Danny Shipp have all extended their contracts with the Club.

New Sponsor

05/06/03

For at least the next three seasons, the Daggers will play at the Glyn Hopkin Stadium. This comes after a £100,000+ deal was signed by the Nissan dealers with the Daggers to sponsor the Victoria Road Ground. There have been many other similar deals throughout football in all countries, such as the Walkers Stadium, home of Leicester, the Loot Stadium, the former name of Hendon's ground, and the Philips Stadium, home of PSV Eindhoven. The money will be made available to the playing side, in an attempt to gain Football League status.

More Transfer News

04/06/03

Another Gravesend player, this time their Player of the Year, has signed for the Daggers. Mark Bentley, an attacking midfield player who spent a year at the Kent club, previously played for Aldershot, Enfield and Aveley. In addition, former Tottenham striker Neale Fenn will spend his two-week holiday thinking over a move to the Daggers. He is currently with Peterborough who need to make way for the arrival of Junior Agogo. Fenn and Garry Hill spent Tuesday night talking over a proposed move after contacting Barry Fry for the go-ahead. Meanwhile, Piper rumours seem to be lingering after Lenny left Farnborough this week, and also Andy Woods rumours after the keeper left Scarborough this week.

New Reserve Side

04/06/03

The Daggers will run two reserve sides next season. In addition to the Capital League side, in which the Daggers came third last season, another team will be entered in the Essex and Herts Combination as a replacement for the PASE team. This new team will consist of Under-19s in the same was as the PASE side, and will be managed by Robbie Garvey. Some of the better U19 players will also be in the Capital League team.

Transfers

02/06/03

The Daggers have finally ended some of the transfer speculation surrounding the last couple of weeks. The badly kept secret of Jimmy Jackson's arrival has been finalised and he joins from Gravesend. He was their longest serving player, having completed 9 seasons at the club, where he was also Captain. He is a left midfield player. Also joining is Margate forward Leon Braitwaite. He is a very quick striker and brother of former sprinter Darren. Averaging a goal every four games, he has also played for Charlton as a youth, Exeter, Bishop's Stortford, Welling, and St Patrick's in Ireland where he won a league title. Leaving the Club on free transfers are Steve Heffer, Mark Rooney, Paul Gothard and Steve Potts. Potts was signed from West Ham last season and played 27 games. Paul Gothard leaves after a two season return, a spell at Hayes in between. He was backup to Roberts for all of his stay and moves on after a total of 216 games for the Club. Mark Rooney was signed in March 2001 from St Albans. He played 70 games for the Club. Heffer was Garry Hill's first money signing, £5,000 from Boreham Wood. He has been a model of consistency throughout his 180 games which brought 10 goals. Played in all of the big games over the years such as the Charlton, Norwich and Ipswich FA Cup games, and has been Captain on occasions. DaggerNet wishes all four players the very best, and would like to thank them for their committment shown in their time with the Daggers. With John McGrath and Jason Broom also having completed loan spells, that leaves six gaps of which only two have been filled. More departures and arrivals are expected. Many names have been bandied around as is common at this time of year, such as Keister also from Margate, Meechan from Forest Green, but as yet nothing more is known.