Paul McCone

Any news on him

From Hednesford website on sat.

In the build-up to today’s game against Hyde it was revealed that defender Paul McCone had departed Hednesford Town Football Club to re-join former team Stourbridge after the Northern Premier League side made a seven-day approach for the 23-year-old’s services.

McCone made a total of 43 appearances during his spell at Keys Park after joining from The Glassboys in October 2013, helping The Pitmen to make the Conference North play-offs at the end of the 2013/14 season.

Manager Rob Smith commented, “I’m disappointed to lose Paul, especially as he has decided to drop down a division.”

Despite playing nine of the opening 13 matches of the current campaign the big defender has decided to make the switch to Stourbridge and we wish him well for the future.

Wow.

Oh blimey...I'm gunna keep quiet for once.

If this is true I shall be very pleased.

Don't get me wrong, I think some of our fans went over board on Paul when he was here. I'm not sure he's as good as some fans made out. But nevertheless I think this would be a great signing and just what we need at present.

Nope I can't....

I like Macca a lot I really do....a top bloke and my Archie's favourite player.
He for one will be delighted he's back...but...
Do we need him?
Is he back because our management have busted a gut to get him or has he come back cap in hand again!!
Our main problem is scoring goals and I know people will say that you can slap a couple of our makeshift defenders back to their natural position but you can't expect them to hit the ground running when they haven't played there for so long.

Like I say....top bloke but wrong choice.

I remember us rescuing Paul from his Leamington nightmare then getting kicked in the nuts when he jumped ship again to join Hednesford,i'm not a great fan of giving people third chances,i think second chances are fair enough but a third!!?

Why are we constantly returning to players from our past?

Rowe,Craddock,Berwick,wheres the scouting,why are we not finding other options,how many other matches are our management watching each week to unearth other players?

Non league football management is a tough task but at a lot of matches i go to ( Stour and other teams ) i come across managers and coaches from other clubs scouting for talent,i think our lot need to up their game in this regard.

I've got nothing against Paul as far as the playing side is concerned,he always gives 100% but people need to remember he played alongside the best centre half we've had at Stourbridge in the last 30 years in Nathan Bennett,Nathan was our latter Day Chrissy Jones,he did the work of three players on his best days,the man was a colossus.

I hope we don't see Paul made into a makeshift right back again,i hope we revert to a conventional back four with Paul alongside Will Richards,lets start putting square pegs in square holes.

I hope Paul finally settles with us this time,he's a local lad and i think at the age of 23 we need to see him at Amblecote for the next 10 years rather than this flitting in and out.

IF only we could persuade/beg/bribe Geddes to make the return journey AND invest in one further quality striker to assist Benbow and Berwick then i'd start to feel a whole lot more positive.

I wish you well Macca but make sure you stick around this time chap.

As a player I cannot fault Macca, s football ability, but the question I ask is how long will he stay with stour. He is still young but has already left stour twice for greeer grass once for leamington then for hendnesford, so I will wait and see if he will stay with us. Maybe he may go if another club offer more money but l still prefer the loyal players Nathan Bennett who played for the love of the game, and not always for what he could get out of the club.Anyway I hope I am proved wrong and Macca stays, but only time will tell

I can see your point about the third chance 100% Devil. When he left for Hednesford I was fuming and was very clear in the 'he can whistle if he thinks he can come back line'. However, now he is back I'm delighted and I'm utterly baffled as to why anyone else wouldn't be. This is Paul McCone we're talking about people. A player who Hednesford fans will be gutted to lose. He IS too good for this level, I'd say even the one above. Yes, you're right, he did have Nathan besides him. However in the Gosport year, it was Macca who went on and won most awards. He played in every league game and put a foot wrong in 1. The lad is top top quality. Fans have been disgruntled-too say the least-with playing forwards at the back. We now have a natural leader, which we've been missing and a natural CB. Personally, I'd go with Knighty and Paul, but on another day I could say Will.

It was mentioned at the AGM about how much work is done behind the scenes regarding scouting. Cliffy is regularly at games midweek, and we have people who help out as and when they can. For instance, we had someone at Blaby the week before. Granted, we then were subsequently dross!

What confuses me a bit, is the issue with signing players who have played for us before. If the club used the fact Ryan and Paul know the club inside out and feel at home here as an advantage, so what? Neither left because they were forced out. Both left for a higher level. It didn't work out for whatever reason and came back. If in 3 months time Sean came back-which you want Devil, and quite rightly so-would the issue of why are we signing old players still be the same?

Welcome back Macca. But as Devil says stick around please! Keep the faith.

Jack wrote:I can see your point about the third chance 100% Devil. When he left for Hednesford I was fuming and was very clear in the 'he can whistle if he thinks he can come back line'. However, now he is back I'm delighted and I'm utterly baffled as to why anyone else wouldn't be. This is Paul McCone we're talking about people. A player who Hednesford fans will be gutted to lose. He IS too good for this level, I'd say even the one above. Yes, you're right, he did have Nathan besides him. However in the Gosport year, it was Macca who went on and won most awards. He played in every league game and put a foot wrong in 1. The lad is top top quality. Fans have been disgruntled-too say the least-with playing forwards at the back. We now have a natural leader, which we've been missing and a natural CB. Personally, I'd go with Knighty and Paul, but on another day I could say Will.

It was mentioned at the AGM about how much work is done behind the scenes regarding scouting. Cliffy is regularly at games midweek, and we have people who help out as and when they can. For instance, we had someone at Blaby the week before. Granted, we then were subsequently dross!

What confuses me a bit, is the issue with signing players who have played for us before. If the club used the fact Ryan and Paul know the club inside out and feel at home here as an advantage, so what? Neither left because they were forced out. Both left for a higher level. It didn't work out for whatever reason and came back. If in 3 months time Sean came back-which you want Devil, and quite rightly so-would the issue of why are we signing old players still be the same?

Welcome back Macca. But as Devil says stick around please! Keep the faith.

Entirely different situation with Sean Geddes Jack,his name was circulated,the club wanted him out,it wasn't Sean agitating for a move.

If the Workington situation had been handled better he'd still be with us.

Why he was made scapegoat for that is still way beyond my comprehension,the buck does not stop with the captain at football,we all know that so to hang him out to dry in the way they did was a really poor effort by the club.

They love him at Worcester…..what a surprise

Worth adding that it hasn't been fully rubber stamped yet - the 7 day approach expires later this week. Although judging by the news item on the Hednesford website, looks like he's made up his mind!

If he hadn't had that 1/2 game spell here before, I'd be absolutely delighted. However, I'm slightly more dubious this time given that he only came here for a game then went off again last time.

However regardless of that, any signing from the league above must be a good sign! Also gives us the chance of some more cover up front if we can push KRD or Knight forward if McCone slots into the defence.

Would expect Leon to be back at CB too once he is back.

If he's agreed to drop a division to return to us then surely it must be good news. Even if it is his 3rd spell with us, at least we've signed someone which is better than doing nothing

Great signing,we can at last put a centre half playing centre half, but what about creativity.we don't let many goals in, just look at the recent results.
Get washbourne back from Evesham and start playing him and if he doesn't make a good impression I'll show my arse from the centre circle. Not a nice thought but I'm that confident he would do well.
Worcs where struggling for goals when they bought sean in and it has given them balance thus their goal tally has gone up.
We also need someone who is going to give us more balance instead of our back four lumping the ball up front leaving our midfield standing there scratching their arses.