Squad for Korea announced

The following players have been selected to represent FC United in South Korea:

Sam Ashton
Simon Garner
Adam Tong
Carlos Roca
Jerome Wright
Carl Lomax
Ben Deegan
Danny Stott
Raducio King
Nick Swirad
Grant Shenton
John Buckley
Jamie Mack
Shaun Williams
Ryan Lyons

As it’s pre-season, there are a few unfamiliar names in that line up, so here’s a run down of the new names, starting with:

- Ben Deegan signed for us from Ashton United with the tough job of replacing last season’s top scorer, Kyle Wilson, who has left to play professional football with Macclesfield. Following Ben’s hat-trick in Saturday’s game at Leek CSOB, it looks like Margy has found us another excellent centre forward to lead the attack.

These next three lads might be new names to some but they were in and around the first team squad last season.

- Danny Stott is a midfielder who joined us late last spring, but he’d been playing in the USA, so we weren’t able to get international clearance for him before the season finished. Before going to America, Danny was at Bolton Wanderers where he captained the reserve team that also included Sam Ashton.

- Raducio King is a promising youngster who has graduated to the first team squad after showing his ability in FC United’s Manchester College Youth team, that plays in the FA Conference Youth League. Some fans will have seen him make his first team debut in the friendly against Djurgarden in Sweden.

- Nick Swirad the Youth Team Players’ Player of the Season, is well known to many fans, not only because he’s been a rock in central defence for our youth team for two seasons but also because he’s been standing on the terraces as a fan since FC United’s formation. Margy spotted Nick’s potential and invited him to train with the first teamers last season. Nick narrowly missed out on getting a place in the squad that travelled to Sweden because he was needed to help the Youth Team win the Manchester County FA Youth Cup.

The other unfamiliar names are players from last season’s Youth team squad. It’s good to see players making their way through from our junior ranks and Margy has drafted these youngsters in for pre-season training to give them a chance to show what they can do and the opportunity to pressure the current squad.

- Grant Shenton is the latest goalkeeping graduate from our youth team and he’s benefitting from working with Karl Lineghan, our goalkeeping coach. Grant’s already made his first team debut, having played in the League Challenge Cup game at Woodley Sports last December.

- John Buckley usually played in midfield for the Youth team last season, although he’s quite versatile and has been known to play in defence too. John also made his first team debut in that unfortunate cup loss at Woodley Sports.

- Jamie Mack is a free-scoring forward who netted more than 30 goals for the Youth team last season, which definitely warrants giving him a chance to shine at first team level. Plus he’s got a name that must lend itself to an obvious terrace song...

- Shaun Williams has been with our Youth team for two seasons and made his first team debut in the friendly against Leek CSOB on Saturday, where he put in an accomplished performance on the left wing.

- Ryan Lyons unlike the others is not an ex-youth team player because at only 16 years old he’s eligible for two more seasons with our under-18s. He’s so young he’ll be taking his dad with him to South Korea but only because his father is First Team Coach, Darren Lyons. This Dad and Lad pair already hold the unique record of being the first father and son combination to play for FC United after they appeared together in the friendly against Rochdale Town on Good Friday.


We know pre-season can be a frustrating time with not much information coming out to fans but we’re sure supporters realise that building a squad for the new season has to be done with quiet negotiations behind the scenes. We’ll post a more detailed football update nearer the beginning of the season when the squad is more settled and Margy has finished his assessment of youth team graduates and triallists.

In the meantime, get along to as many friendlies as you can and see if you can spot which players will be next season’s stars.