About turn for ex-loan man Duffy
Twice Burnley have signed a Duffy on loan. Most recently it was Shane Duffy, who played once in 2011 when on loan from Everton, but almost twelve years ago we took Richard Duffy on loan from Portsmouth.
Shane has very definitely been in the news over the weekend after he was sent off during the Republic of Ireland’s exit from the Euros at the hands of France, but Richard, who made seven appearances for the Clarets, has also been there too having opted to leave a club he agreed to join only four weeks ago.
After four years with Port Vale, he turned down the offer of a new contract and instead agreed to sign with National League club Eastleigh. That was in the last few days of May with Eastleigh boss Chris Todd saying at the time: “I’m absolutely delighted to capture one of my top targets this summer. Richard is the calibre of player we need at our club, he is a winner and leader and will bring a wealth of experience to the squad for next season.”
Just about four weeks on and Eastleigh were forced to announce yesterday that Duffy will not be joining them after all after he received an offer from an English Football League team which he said he was unable to ignore.
Following discussions, Eastleigh agreed to let him join the then unnamed club, who it has emerged, is Notts County, after he said he wanted to take the opportunity because he wanted to continue playing in the league and that it would also benefit his family life because the club were close to his family home.
This time, Todd said: “Whilst I am clearly disappointed that Richard will not be joining my squad for the 2016/17 campaign it is vital that the whole team are here in soul as well as body next season and that they are fully focused on the job in hand.
“It is not secret that we will be going for promotion again this year, this is clear from the signings we have made so far this summer and with everything taken into consideration I felt it was best that we allowed Richard to go elsewhere if he was not 100% focused on the club’s main objective.”
He’s not the only former Burnley player on the move either from today’s reports; Nicky Platt, who was a member of the youth team a decade ago has moved from to Trafford having ended last season with Nantwich Town where he was a team mate of Steve Jones.
Platt, now aged 28, has a lot of non-league experience having also played for Stalybridge Celtic, Salford City, Witton Albion, Stockport County, Bamber Bridge and FC United of Manchester prior to moving to Nantwich.
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