Ford: Carpenter unlikely to return

10:26am Tuesday 1st July 2008

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WELLING boss Andy Ford has revealed it is highly unlikely Richard Carpenter will be plying his trade at Park View Road this season.

Carpenter, who was club captain, has failed to commit his future to the Wings despite having a new deal on offer throughout the summer.

Ford gathered his squad together for their first pre-season workout at the weekend and Carpenter was nowhere to be seen, prompting the manager to concede the midfielder's future probably lies elsewhere.

He said: "I don't think he will be staying now. I offered him a deal and he still hasn't got back to me, so I've got to assume he isn't going to take it.

"Richard was not at the training sessions and I haven't heard anything from him for a while now."

Sonny Cobbs is another player who has yet to sign a deal and the former Brighton player is currently out to impress on trial with several Football League clubs.

Ford was keen to reassure the player his offer of a deal is still there in the short term, but added it wouldn't remain on the table forever.

The manager explained: "Sonny is training with a couple of league sides and has always been upfront with me about wanting to play full-time football.

"If those trials don't work out then I would still love him to come back but I can only wait so long.

"My budget is set at a certain amount and I need to know where I stand. That is the predicament I have at the moment."

Ford confirmed as many as 28 players took part in the weekend training exercise and the boss is confident several of the trialists who took part will be penning deals sooner rather than later.

He said: "I'm hoping to have signed some of them within the next week. It would be wrong to say I'm only interested in making three new signings because there could well be more than that.

"Areas I'm particularly interested in strengthening still are left midfield and perhaps central midfield."

One man already on board is Frankie Chappell, who agreed to join the club last week from Folkestone Invicta.

Ford added: "We had to pay a small fee for him because he is under 24, but it is a good investment because I watched him last season and thought he was a very good defender."