Rebels face big spenders

Stuart Brennan

4/ 9/2008

FC UNITED come up against the Manchester City of the UniBond League premier division when Eastwood Town visit Gigg Lane tomorrow.

The Nottinghamshire club has a weekly wage budget of around £9,000, roughly six times that of the Rebels, spending power which made them the pre-season bookies’ favourites to win the title, and a place in Conference South.

But FC manager Karl Marginson (pictured) is untroubled by such a cash disadvantage, with most of his club’s revenue being swallowed up by the rent paid to landlords Bury.

“It looks like being another topsy-turvy season in this division,” he says. “On the last day of last season, there were nine clubs in this division which could have been relegated, and it could be another close league.”

On the plus side, winger Jerome Wright completed his first 90 minutes of the season in Monday’s defeat at Bradford Park Avenue, Adam Carden returned to action, and he drafted in new boy Jacob Wood for an impressive debut as a makeshift centre half.

Wood, normally a right back, was released by Stockport County in the summer and saw a stint at Stalybridge come to nothing, but he is set to keep his place on Saturday.

“We threw him in at the deep end and he came oput of it with a lot of credit,” said Marginson.

“We asked him to do a job, and he did it very well, and with Adam Turner still suspended and Rob Nugent still not right, we need him.”