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16
Sept
Ex-Leeds United striker becomes Knaresborough Town's 'biggest player ever signed'
Knaresborough Town unveiled their biggest star yet yesterday, after signing former Leeds United striker Ross McCormack.
McCormack, 40, retired from professional football nine years ago, but has kept playing for non-league sides and is in shape.
Rob Northfield, joint managing director of Knaresborough Town, said:
He’s got to be the biggest player Knaresborough have ever signed, as far as I know.
Knaresborough Town currently play in the Premier Division of the Northern Counties East League – the ninth tier in the English football pyramid.
Mr Northfield, who joined Knaresborough as joint managing director with Neil Reaney in June, said he hoped McCormack would help the team win promotion. He said:
We’ve got lots of targets for the season – including ones for sponsorship and community work – but on the pitch, we want to win the league. Our minimum target is a play-off place, and we very much hope Ross will help us get there.
Ross McCormack wearing Knaresborough Town's stripes.
McCormack, 40, started his career with Scottish Premier League club Rangers in 2002, and joined Leeds United in 2010 for £350,000.
He captained the team, playing 144 matches for them – more than for any other team in his career – and scoring 53 goals.
He left Leeds in 2014 with an £11 million move to Fulham, followed by a move two years later to Aston Villa for £12 million.
He told the Stray Ferret:
There’s no doubt I’ll help them [Knaresborough Town] – I’d like to say both on and off the pitch. On the pitch there are some boys here who I know I can help in terms of education and learning of the game.
People probably think I’m going to come here and score x amount of goals, but it ain’t going to be easy. But I think off the pitch too I can help the boys in the changing room.
Knaresborough Town have had to wait for clearance from the Football Association before allowing McCormack to pull on a pair of boots, but he said that “realistically” he hoped to be able to play his first game on Saturday, in a league match against West Yorkshire side Horbury Town.
Asked what he hoped for from his time at the club, McCormack told us:
First and foremost, I want to enjoy it. You build a career over x amount of years, where it’s just ‘work hard, work hard, work hard’, and you don’t really get to take a lot in in terms of enjoyment. You’ve not got time to just sit back and take stock. So I just want to enjoy it, and help the team on and off the pitch.
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