Goalkeeper Sam Russell last night revealed why he decided to stay at Darlington after turning down the opportunity of returning to the Football League.
Bradford City last month made a tentative inquiry, but the 28-year-old was not swayed, despite the possibility of a more lucrative deal, and instead signed a one-year deal with Darlington.
The Middlesbrough-born keeper wanted to stay at The Northern Echo Arena where he says the club’s ambition was key.
Having ended last season by winning the FA Trophy, Darlington are hoping to transform cup success into a league promotion, and Russell said: “I’m happy to sign for another year. It’s where I want to be.
“I want to be in the region for obvious reasons but I want to be at Darlington because I really feel like the club is getting back on the up and could go places.
“We had a great end to the season. Experiences like that don’t come around very often and if anything it helped me to decide where I wanted to be next season.
“The reaction of the fans and the civic parade was just brilliant, it felt like the club was really connected with the town.
“The club is still buzzing from the FA Trophy win and I want to be part of that – hopefully we can take that momentum into next season.
“But the main thing is about our ambitions, and the chairman and manager have made it pretty clear what the sole aim is next year, and that’s getting back into the Football League.”
Russell played almost all of Quakers’ 56 matches last season, missing only three towards the campaign’s end in order to give game time to Danzelle St Louis-Hamilton.
Russell kept 18 clean sheets as Darlington recorded one of the best defensive records in the division – only Crawley and Luton conceded fewer goals.
So he hopes the addition of striker James Walshaw, scorer of 32 goals last season for Guiseley, will boost the goal tally at the other end of the pitch.
Russell said: “I do think scoring goals was our biggest problem last season. We had one of the best defensive records in the league, but one of the worst for goals scored, so hopefully James will help to rectify that for us.
“He has an excellent track record in the lower leagues, so let’s hope he can repeat it in the Conference.”
As well as Russell, Paul Arnison, Paul Terry Aman Verma were all also offered one-year deals.
Arnison and Terry are exected to sign, but Quakers are not so confident of convincing Verma to drop into the Conference.
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