Crown decides to stay with Drumahoe men

Crown, who had offers 
from Premiership side Ballinamallard United and fellow Championship men Bangor, has decided to remain at 
Drumahoe and he hopes 
to sign a new deal later this week.

“I was chatting to both Ballinamallard and Bangor but after taking a lot of things into consideration before making the decision over the weekend to decide to stay at Stute,” he stated.

“I have been at Stute for six seasons now and I want to keep that loyalty with them and I’m already looking forward to the season starting, it will be good to get back into things when pre-season starts soon.

“Every player will have a fresh start now under the new manager, but I feel we need to build from last year.

“I don’t think it was such a terrible season, it was a great experience in terms of playing Premiership football and I think you are only going to learn from that going into this season.”

The defender also conceded that having held talks with boss Kevin Deery his mind was then made up and he didn’t want to leave the Riverside Stadium.

“Kevin’s enthusiasm is very good, he’s seems to be very enthusiastic about everything he does,” he added.

“I feel after chatting with Kevin, he sounds as if he’s really looking to go for promotion.

“He has a good belief in what he wants to do at Institute and obviously with Paddy (McLaughlin) also there, the two of them want to push on and doing their best this season.”

Stute, who start pre-season training tonight, face Paul Owens’ Limavady United side on Tuesday, July 21 in their first game of the season, before travelling to Seaview on Saturday, July 25, to face Premiership champoinships Crusaders and then entertain newly promoted Carrick Rangers, on Saturday August 1.