Source: FOOTYMAD
Armstrong and Bowditch ready for new season
Yesterday we brought you news of Paul Smith's move from Quorn to Hucknall Town and today there is news on two more former Burnley players Craig Armstrong and Dean Bowditch. Dean Bowditch - staying with YeovilBoth were loan players at Burnley, almost ten years apart, and both have signed new contracts this week with one of them making a loan move a permanent one.Armstrong joined Burnley just before Christmas 1994 in a loan deal from Nottingham Forest to cover for a left-back crisis with both Chris Vinnicombe and Wayne Dowell ruled out with long term injuries.Then 19, he played just four games for Jimmy Mullen's team before returning to Forest. He's since played for a number of clubs and last summer signed for Mansfield Town as they prepared for their second season outside the Football League.However, in March of this year he made a surprise loan move to Forest Green Rovers until the end of the season and this week has committed himself further to Forest Green by signing a permanent deal with them as player coach. Now aged 35, he is one of six signings made this week by manager Dave Hockaday.Another player on the move last summer was Dean Bowditch. He had an unsuccessful loan with the Clarets in 2005, scoring once in ten games. Once tipped to be a star at Ipswich, injuries and a loss of form left him unable to establish himself at Portman Road. A series of loan moves followed before he was released at the end of the 2008/09 season.He signed for League One club Yeovil in a one year deal and scored ten goals in a season that saw him miss three months with a dislocated shoulder. Yesterday he accepted an offer to remain with Yeovil and put pen to paper on a new contract.
