Jack Bodenham re-joins Spartans

Blyth Spartans is delighted to confirm the arrival of Jack Bodenham on a permanent contract.

The 23-year-old defender joined Spartans on an initial one-month loan deal from South Shields at the beginning of last season before spending the majority of the first half of the campaign with the Club.

He made his debut in a 1-1 draw against Farsley Celtic at Croft Park and featured in a total of 12 fixtures in the Vanarama National League North for Graham Fenton's side.

Speaking on Jack's arrival to the Club, manager Graham Fenton said: "You kind of base your team around your defensive unit first, which is what we've been trying to do, getting a decent partnership going who are young and hungry in both Jack (Bodenham) and Finn (Cousin-Dawson), players who have still got a point to prove which both lads have got. They're both talented players, both who are hungry to keep improving and they're exactly what we are looking for.

"I think the two of them will strike up a really good relationship alongside Alex (Mitchell), Rhys (Evans) and Lidds (Michael Liddle) and possibly there could be another one or two coming in, we're going to have a really solid unit with the experience of Shawsy (Jon Shaw) to be a back-up and be providing advice for them as well."

Fenton continued: "Shawsy worked closely with Jack when he was partnering Dillon Morse at South Shields and the two of them struck up a really good relationship and kept quite a few clean sheets together; we're hoping that the same can happen with Finn and Jack here.

"We're just delighted to get him over the line, he's been on trial down at Aldershot which is a big team, but ultimately Jack has come because he likes how myself and Jon work, and he knows that we're hungry for success, we want to keep pushing and improving the squad and he will be a big part of that."

Jack took part in Thursday evening's training session and will be in contention to feature in tomorrow's pre-season friendly against Hartlepool United.

Commenting on re-joining the Club, Jack said: "It was good to see a few familiar faces again (in training last night), I can't wait for tomorrow now (against Hartlepool) and cracking on for the season."

He added: "I'm looking forward to reuniting with them (Graham Fenton and Jon Shaw) and hopefully having a successful season. I think I suit what they want and they suit what I want so it's a good match."

Welcome back to Croft Park, Jack!