Four Academy scholars sign professional terms

The club is delighted to announce that four members of our title-winning academy squad have signed professional terms with the club.

Brad Williams

Williams is no stranger to the Town faithful having registered two first-team appearances in this season’s league campaign, the most recent of which coming in our final match of the season against Rochdale.

The versatile winger also capped off an impressive season by collecting the Academy Players’ Player of the Year award. Williams has signed a one-year contract with the club.

Finn O’Boyle

O’Boyle made history this season by becoming the first academy player to score for the club in our 2-1 Papa John’s Trophy victory over Morecombe in October.

This form is one which continued for our academy side as the winger played an important role in our league triumph prior to injury. O’Boyle has also signed a one-year contract with the club.

Mason Wilson

Central defender Mason Wilson has played a pivotal role at the heart of Josh Law’s defence this season.

As well as maintaining an impressive record defensively, Wilson has also stepped up to take the captain’s armband on several occasions. Wilson has signed a six-month contract with the club.

Ben Tweed

Tweed was one of the first academy prospects to feature in the first-team, having made his debut in our Papa Johns Trophy victory over Newcastle U21s two seasons ago.

Since then, the midfielder has contributed with some important goals over the course of the last season. Tweed has signed a six-month contract with the club.

Head of Youth Coaching Josh Law said: “We are really proud to have four lads signing professional terms. Obviously, we had Emmanuel Ilesanmi and George Horbury last year so that’s six players from this intake.

“We work with these lads daily and have invested a lot of time in their development but the hard work starts now. The lads aren’t going there to make up the numbers, they have to come into pre-season with the aim of impacting the first-team squad and making their mark.

“All four of the lads have great characters, over the course of this season we have seen first hand how talented and driven they are. Hopefully, they can take those qualities onto senior level.

“There have been a lot of tough decisions to make. Obviously, there are lads who haven’t been offered professional terms so it’s a bittersweet moment for us. We are really disappointed for them but thankfully their all set-up to continue their journey away from the club.”

The group will now take part in the first-team pre-season schedule and we look forward to seeing them continue in their development.

We would also like to take this time to thank the scholars who have unfortunately not been offered professional terms.

Harvey Giles, Bobby Attree, James Birmingham, Alasdair Kerr and Tom Liddle leave the club with our best wishes, their contributions over the previous two seasons will be remembered fondly.