Billy Gordon and Charlie Aitken join Spartans
Sunday, 30 July 2023
Blyth Spartans are thrilled to confirm the arrivals of both Billy Gordon and Charlie Aitken to the Club.
Both Billy and Charlie have featured prominently throughout pre-season for Graham Fenton's side as trialists and have caught the eye of the Spartans boss.
Speaking on Billy Gordon signing for the Club, Fenton said: "I'm delighted that Billy has decided to sign on. He's just finished a couple of years at York City, and I got put onto him around about six or seven weeks ago.
"We've been really impressed with him as a player and a young man, he's really enthusiastic, he has fantastic ability on the ball, the development is clear for everyone to see in terms of his physicality, he's quite slight at this moment in time so that's one of the things we need to work on with Billy over the next 12 months alongside getting him some senior football.
"Hopefully, he's also got the license to drop into the academy for games when needed to keep his match fitness up, so I'm delighted that Billy has decided to join, he's really enjoyed his time with us since he's come across."
The 18-year-old midfielder joined York City at under-16 level and appeared regularly in a box-to-box type role for the Minstermen's youth sides, being confident of receiving the ball in-between lines as well as playing forward through balls.
He has been deployed in a number of different positions by Fenton; most recently he slotted in at right fullback against Whitby Town on Friday evening.
Commenting on Charlie officially joining the Club, Fenton said: "He's done really well in pre-season, he's really impressed, he started off a little bit deeper in midfield and then it became clear to all of us, myself, Shawsy (Jon Shaw) and Devs (Nicky Deverdics) to kind of look at his attributes and think he's going to play higher.
"He's done well when he's played in the nine or 10 role, he's definitely got something. He's only 17-year-old so he's going to be a little bit raw but he's definitely got tools we hope we can develop over the next 12 months, such as his understanding of the game and knowing his position a little bit better.
"He's very good, he's got a good turn of foot, he can go past people with pace and he can score goals, so I'm looking forward to seeing how Charlie gets on as well."
Charlie Aitken, son of Spartans' goalkeeping coach, Ian Aitken, scored the third goal for the Club in the fixture against Marske United during a 4-2 win.
Welcome to Blyth Spartans, Billy and Charlie!