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Recent news from Jon Palmer at the Gloucester Echo
By Jon Palmer 30th May 2017
Jordan Stoddart wants to help Cirencester Town regain their Southern League Premier Division status at the first attempt.
The 25-year-old centre-half has made the move to the Corinium Stadium from Bishop's Cleeve along with goalkeeper Matt Wieczorek.
His form in Cleeve's backline had alerted the attention of several clubs, but he picked Cirencester after talks with boss Charlie Griffin, who sold the club to him.
"I had spoken to and had a few enquiries or offers from several clubs including higher level teams at the end of last season," Stoddart said. "I was due to be meeting up with a club for pre-season in the Northern Premier League, but then Cirencester got in touch with me which I was surprised about at first.
"I spoke to Charlie over the phone and he asked me to come up have a look around and a chat face to face.
"The facilities are great and we had a good chat about all sorts, including aims and goals for the season. Charlie really sold it to me and he's been great throughout this process. My aims are to push on as a player and go into this season with the mentality of getting Cirencester back to the Premier Division."
Stoddart, who works as a warehouse operative in Droitwich, was playing for Midland League Division Three club Perrywood AFC before joining Cleeve two years ago through his friendship with Aaron Drake.
The 25-year-old has also played for Archdales 73 and Malvern Town's youth team, but he has relished stepping up to the Southern League with the Mitres.
"My time at Cleeve has been absolutely brilliant," Stoddart said.
"I would like to say a big thanks to Soots (manager, Steve Cleal) for even taking a chance on me in the first place. I owe him for that as at the time no one would even bother. The amount of friends and relationships I've built there I won't forget and it was the hardest decision to leave."
Among the highlights of Stoddart's time at Kayte Lane were playing in front of a big crowd at Hereford's Edgar Street last season, the club's best ever FA Trophy run, with wins over Didcot Town and Banbury United and featuring alongside younger brother Logan in the Cleeve team.
"I believe I have progressed huge amounts since I first joined Cleeve and that's all down to the amount of game time I've been given, the players I've played with and the trust shown in me," he said.
Cirencester are also thought to be keen on Cleeve's attacking midfielder Harlie Price.
This entry was posted on 02 June 2017 at 09:25 and is filed under First Team | Miscellaneous. You can leave a response here.
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