Archived News from October 2003
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EVENING POST PREVIEW
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CURLE: 'HANDS OFF MY YOUNG GUNS'
BY STEVIE RODEN, Evening Post, 31 October 2003 Stags boss Keith Curle has a fired a hands-off warning to any manager looking to snap up Mansfield's young stars on the cheap. Curle has already rejected an offer - believed to be about £125,000 - from First Division Rotherham United for midfielder Liam Lawrence. But he knows that with his team banging in goals - Lawrence already has nine this season - scouts from across the country will head to Field Mill. "Of course, with all these goals come the scouts looking to take our better players away from us," said Curle. "It is no secret that Rotherham showed some interest in Liam earlier in he month and I wouldn't be surprised that now Liam is scoring again the scouts will be back to look at him. "I have tried to give Liam the best advice possible about his career, telling him the grass isn't always greener on the other side. "He has expressed a wish to play at the highest level with Mansfield Town which is a positive, as the club are progressing to bigger and better things. "And you can rest assured that we will not let players like Liam leave this club cheaply." Curle believes that his side need to knock in 80 goals this season to guarantee promotion. And he has guidelines as to where he wants them to come from. "I believe that we would realistically be needing to score round about 80 goals to succeed in this division and I know that I have enough in the changing room to achieve this. "We would be looking at maybe 15 goals from the back line, 30 from the midfield and some 35 from the strikers. "Colin Larkin, Iyseden Christie, Junior Mendes and Chris Beardsley are easily capable of 35 between them with Larks being one of the best one-on-one finishers at the club," he added. Meanwhile, Curle is looking forward to a tough game against the Pilgrims, who are unbeaten in six matches. The manager believes he has a strong enough squad to beat any team on their day and with just one player of his 23 not fit - Adam Eaton - he is confident his side can win. He said: "I believe that the 22 players I have available are enough to deal with anything that this division has to offer." Mansfield (probable): Pilkington, Hassell, Vaughan, Day, Artell, MacKenzie, Williamson, Lawrence, Corden, Larkin, Mendes. Subs: J White, Christie, Curtis, Dimech, Disley. ----------- HERO CHASES OAP MUGGER Evening Post, 31 October 2003 Soccer boss John Gannon caught a mugger who knocked over an elderly woman and grabbed her bag. The youth fled on a mountain bike and Mr Gannon gave chase in his car. The assistant manager at Mansfield Town said: " I jumped in the car and chased after him. "It must have been about three-quarters of a mile with the lad doing u-turns to try to avoid me. "I decided that I wasn't going to catch him in the car so I got out and gave chase on foot and as he turned back again I grabbed at him and held him until a passer by phoned police." The incident happened on Tuesday when the assistant manager at Mansfield Town went to Kingstonian, Surrey, on a scouting mission. The ground is just around the corner from his parents' home so he decided to visit them. . As he was leaving he saw the mugging. Mr Gannon said: "I became incensed by what I saw - it was at the top of my mum's street so I just didn't think." Police took in a youth for questioning. |
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