Brad Carsley departure leaves Lancaster City boss Mark fell shocked

Mark Fell has left the door ajar for striker Brad Carsley to return to the club at any point in the future.
Brad CarsleyBrad Carsley
Brad Carsley

The centre forward shocked the Dolly Blues this week when he decided to quit the club due to work commitments.

Carsley felt he could not commit to the travel demands of the NPL Premier Division and Fell has reluctantly let him go.

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“It came as a surprise,” Fell said. “I did not see it coming.

“I have had contact with him all summer – he’s been keeping fit, telling me how fit he is and that he’s looking forward to next season then all of a sudden I get a call out of the blue.

“But it’s the nature of non-league football. People have lives, people have other things going on.

“In Brad’s case, he’s got a significant increase in his work load with his job and that’s led to him thinking can he commit to South Shields or Morpeth Town away on a Tuesday night?

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“There is obviously a lot of travelling required in this league and I know he will have found it hard leaving because every indication I have had from him is that he loves it here at Lancaster City.

“Brad will probably turn up somewhere two divisions lower and he’s a Northern Premier League player, so if a North West Counties club gets him then they’ve got themselves a hell of a player.

“There’s clubs in that league who could probably match his wage demands which he will get here, so he’s probably not going to lose out money wise.

“But I have said to him that if anything changes, we would welcome him back here. If he does decide that he wants to come back to higher league non-league football , we would rather that be with us and not against us.”

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Fell is hoping to learn this week about the league’s plans for a start date for next season.

The squad are due at Giant Axe this weekend for the start of pre-season training, which will be conducted under strict social distancing.

The boss believes a likely start date for the season will be sometime in September.