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STAYING ON: Club captain Alex Browne

CLUB captain Alex Browne is close to signing a new deal that will keep him at Dorchester Town next season.

The former Weymouth centre-back's future at the club was in doubt at the end of last term when the Magpies suffered relegation to the British Gas Business Southern Premier League but director of football Shaun Brooks is adamant that he is staying.

However, huge doubts still hang over the futures of Francisco Ramos, James Rowe and Jones Awuah.

Brooks said: "I have spoken to Alex and he is going to be involved next year while James is going to play part-time but probably not for us.

"James realises he is not going to play in the Football League now and last year I think he struggled to make ends meet. He has got a job in Bournemouth and is learning a trade, and I fully understand why he has made the decision he has.

"As for Chico, he received a bit of stick when he first came to us but I thought he was great. He gave us a real presence and our record over the last ten or 11 games of last season was a lot better with him between the posts.

"However, he lives in North London and getting him down here every Tuesday and Thursday is difficult.

"I believe there are other clubs interested in him as well and if he decides to move somewhere a bit closer to home I will respect that but we are still talking.

"I am also still in contact with Jones Awuah as well. This week he has gone to Ghana with his family and at the moment we cannot come to an arrangement in terms of money.

"He is not asking for anything that is not warranted or that he could not get elsewhere and like with Chico there are other clubs interested in him.

"However, he has said he wants to be here and if we can come to some sort of agreement then I will be delighted. We have made him an offer and he is thinking about it."

Brooks is also hoping to bring in several new players over the summer but he has also admitted that getting signatures is not always easy, particularly at this stage of the close season.

He added: "We need a keeper, a left-sided player and a couple of forwards but at the moment the players are in the driving seats a bit because there is no pressure to sign.

"The good thing is that we are not in the same situation as last season where we had to undertake a big turnover of players. We have the nucleus of a side and just need to add to it but with some clubs paying out ridiculous money it is not easy to do that."

* The Magpies have announced four pre-season friendlies: Friday, July 11: Poole Town (away) 7.45pm Tuesday, July 15: Hamworthy United (away) 7.45pm Friday, July 18: AFC Bournemouth (home) 7.30pm Friday, August 1: Weymouth (home) 7.30pm.

9:19am Thursday 22nd May 2008

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