Has signed for Stafford Rangers.
GE
I think its worth adding that Dave conducted himself in a very professional manner and leaves Witton Albion with our best wishes and I believe we may not have seen the last of him yet.
Best of luck to Macca. Think he’s a good player.
Great player, who will be soreley missed.
Was a fee involved, or was he a free agent?
best of luck macca… good player 
Macca was non-contract.
Can’t have any complaints when a player gets the opportunity to test himself at a higher level, especially not when he’s open and honest about it.
Spot on Mark
Good luck Macca, you’re welcome back at WP any time, as long as you get the beers in!
Macca who?
Appreciate your sentiments Eli, but by the same token;
‘Eli who?’
All the best to Macca, another one closer to home and playing at a higher level, no doubt on more money.
I personally would have liked Macca to have stayed and for me as Captain for the next season.
The only people at fault regards players departing are those that failed to put them under contract!!! As free agents players can move on as they chose and if a club comes in for you at a higher level, closer to home and with more money it is a hard decision. How many people would turn down a promotion at work on the same terms?
The trouble with contracts is they work both ways. I can remember Witton signing a young player with massive potential from Man City, at the start of the 1992-93 season (Paul Lake). He was tipped as a future England player when he suffered a bad injury whilst playing for Man City, and we got him when he was on his way back.
We put him on a contract, but unfortunately, he had a bad recurrence of the injury in one of his first games for us. We still had to pay his wages for the one or two year contract he had signed, aswell as having to pay for his replacement.
I am not saying this was the cause of our financial demise in the 90’s, but it sure didn’t help.
The following is an extract from Manchester City:
[color=#0000FF][b][i]Manchester City FC (Manchester City Years 1986-1990) Star Players
Paul Lake
Paul Lake is without doubt one of the greatest talents ever produced by the sky Blues; however his playing career was cut short due to injury. He made his debut in a league match against Wimbledon in January 1987 at the age of 18 years old. He soon became a permanent fixture in the starting line up and was outstanding for the club, being able to play in a variety of positions. His consistency earned him many appearances for the England under 21 team, however towards the start of the 1990-91 season, an injury kept him out of the game for two years. Injury once again struck shortly after and Lake decided to retire from playing at the start of the 1996-97 season.[/i][/b][/color]
Are you sure Paul Lake played for Witton? I always thought he’d made an attempted come back with City before calling it day after a few more games with them?
It wasn’t Paul Lake, although Paul did get involved with Witton through one of our sponsors, The name of the player escapes me but he was ex City, my memory of the incident was that he had recovered from a cruciate (can’t spell) knee injury and in his first game for us he ruptured his other one. I will be thinking about this one for ages (or until Chad tells us)
I stand corrected, if it wasn’t Paul Lake, and leave it to the oracle to put the record straight. However, the message was the same. Clubs at our level cannot afford to put everybody on a contract.
Paul Kelly is the player I think!!! Played 3 games 
Very wise words TT, contracts work both ways. When players sign them they have the benefit of knowing that will get paid for the duration, irrespective of injury. The downside for players is that they can’t then choose to move on of their own free will when it suits them. Equally club’s insure against injuries to help cover this situation.
My point is that from club’s perspective we knew going back to February and before which members of the squad we would certainly want to retain either in the BSN or Unibond. These specific players (and I would argue JK, Warlow and Macca were three of them) should have been under contract for next season with agreement to pay them A) an amount based upon promotion or B ) an amount based upon playing at Unibond level. Most of these players would arguably have been happy to sign contracts whilst the club was riding high in the league and the agreement to pay them additional monies based on promotion may have been a further incentive in the run-in (it is clear that the majority play for money these days rather than the club)
Had contracts have been in place before hand then some of our arguably more valuable assets would not be allowed to work out of the door without any fee. If the new club they join has no transfer fee to pay then they are in a better position to offer increased wages (and even a signing on fee). Furthermore as transfer fees are less common at this level of football then only your most valuable assets are likely to move and when they do the fee paid is reflective of this.
No contracts at the end of the season with recognised good quality players generally gives them the opportunity to move on to the highest bidder! Unless we want repeats of this situation in future seasons we need more protection of our most valuable assets. It is the club that increases their value and stupidly they get little in return.
It is difficult to balance the value/liability of the contracts but I think it is fair to say we have demonstrated the way not to go about it!
Have spoken briefly to Macca via e-mail, he wanted me to wish the fans well;
[i]There was some truth in that I have been to see both Nantwich and Eastwood, to be honest I did not want to sign for either of them but was so worried as Witton were really messing me around. I was calling Jim and he never picked up, I was calling the players and no one new what was going on, all I was told is that certain players were signing for different clubs. At the time Nige was trying his best but could not really tell me what was going on so Yes I did see other clubs.
In the end after Nige was made manager I did have a good meeting with Nige and was going to re-sign, then out of the blue Stafford Rangers rang me and I am going to sign for them today.
A few reasons why I am signing for them, its on my door step 10 mins from work and 20mins from my house. Its a league above and I really want to have a go at playing in the Blue Sq North, as you probably know I have been playing in the Unibond for 8/9 years now. Its such a shame its not with you as last year was such a Brilliant seasons, the most I have ever enjoyed playing to date, just such a shame it ended like it did.
I would just like to thank you and the lads for making me so welcome so soon, the supporters were brilliant to me. If you could tell the other fans as well for me.
Anyway I am sure that I will be playing on your ground soon, either as a player or against you.
This is confirmation that next time I play Macca will ‘Get the beers in’ promise.
Good luck with the new season, wish you and Nige all the best.[/i]
Yet another example of a player who has gone about things THE RIGHT WAY.
Rabbit for once I agree with you, why contracts were never looked at and offered during the last season is beyond me, it does make the club look somewhat amaterish in the dealings with some of the better players. It really strikes me that Nigel is going to be starting with virtually none of last seasons team.
Robbo mate. If you are in contact with Macca please tell him I’m gutted that he’s gone and hope that if things don’t work out at Stafford he’ll be back. I can tell you that I mentioned him to a certain person two years ago but got told he wasn’t the answer. The fact we did sign him eventually shows how the certain person operated. Won’t go into the whys and wherefores its history but just to say Macca even when he was with other clubs was a favourite of mine and I’m glad that at least he was honorable in his dealings when leaving us. Shows that he his a great bloke as well as player.
Macca mate if it don’t work out come back to us but appreciate your reasons for going to Stafford.