'˜Youngsters can't communicate' - departing defender falls foul of Law

Young football players have no idea how to communicate properly, says Alfreton Town boss Nicky Law.
Nicky Law.Nicky Law.
Nicky Law.

Law, who has managed in the game for 16 years, was riled the manner in which he learned of Cliff Moyo’s departure from The Reds.

Moyo was announced as a Halifax player on Tuesday, depsite Law’s claim that the 23-year-old had verbally agreed a deal to stay at Alfreton.

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“We were doing fine, we were sat there with 14 players retained and then I lost two through the Under 24 rule, they’ve chosen to go elsewhere,” he said.

“It’s disappointing but they’ve probably bettered their wages so I can’t blame them for that.

“Then I had an agreement in principal with Cliff Moyo and we get back to training on Tuesday but he’s gone and signed for Halifax, which is within his rights.

“I’ve not even had a phone call from the club taking him or the player, thanking us for the last 12 months of helping him with his development, getting him on the right road.

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“It’s a more prosperous club, but to see it on a Twitter page is disappointing, but then again it doesn’t surprise me.”

A lack of communication is what Law, in his 10th year of managing Alfreton, has come to expect.

“That’s the modern day for you,” he said.

“For 12 months you take someone from no where, get them to the point where people are looking at them and you can’t even get a phone call.

“When you ring them up they say it’s someone else’s fault.

“The younger generation can’t talk, can’t communicate, they have to do it by text or Facebook or Twitter.

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“They’re not brought up to talk anymore, then they get on the pitch and can’t communicate.”

Alfreton have also lost goalkeeper Matt Duke who has joined Chesterfield in a full-time coaching role, a move Law encouraged the 39-year-old to make.

But that departure and others mean he’s now looking for several new players.

“I’ve got to find a replacement keeper, which I’m on with, and a replacement right-back – I hadn’t planned for that.

“That’s on top of the three or four I was looking for.

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“It makes it a little bit harder at this stage but it’s not something I’m not used to.

“There hasn’t really been a season when I haven’t had to build a new team – we can’t sign players on two year contracts because you have to pay them for 52 weeks and we don’t do that.

“It annoys me but it doesn’t phase me, I’ve done it time and time again.

“I end up being chief scout for everyone else, bringing them in and then they end up playing much higher.

“Maybe my future lies in recruitment.”

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Law had his players back in for fitness testing this week, the first of five training sessions before the start of their pre-season friendly schedule.

Sheffield Wednesday provide the opposition on 13th July before the visits of Notts County, Mansfield and Grimsby first teams and Nottingham Forest’s Under 21s.

The manager said: “We always have a good pre-season, we get good clubs to come.

“It’s a testing pre-season, everyone will be pushed to the limit and that’s what we want.

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