Ginnelly and Long released by Clarets
Josh Ginnelly and Chris Long, two players signed three years ago, have both been released by Burnley having spent much of the last two seasons out on loan.
Ginnelly came to Burnley from Shrewsbury as an 18-year-old having made three Football League appearances for the Shrews as a substitute. Micky Mellon, his manager at the time, wanted to keep him but he moved to Turf Moor to join the development squad.
His first loan came in the second half of that season where he made a really good impression at Altrincham and he joined our first team squad in pre-season 2016, scoring the late winner against Bolton at the Macron Stadium.
However, last season was spent on loan at Walsall and then Lincoln where he was a member of the squad that won promotion from the National League and last summer he returned to Sincil Bank on a season long loan. That was ended in January to allow him to re-join Mellon at Tranmere and for the second successive season he’s been part of a team winning promotion back to the Football League with his last game coming at Wembley last Saturday in the play-off final.
Long arrived at Burnley at the same time in a move from Everton. He’d made one appearance for the Toffees, as a substitute in the Europa League, but had league experience with both MK and Brentford while out on loan. In the previous season he’d been part of the Brentford squad that had such a good season in the Championship and he scored four times in just ten appearances, of which just two were starts, including one in a 3-2 win at Blackburn in which Andre Gray scored the winner.
He was brought in as part of the first team squad at Burnley and made eleven appearances during his first season although only one of those was a start. That came at Cardiff in November 2015 but he had a disappointing afternoon and was replaced by Matt Taylor early in the second half. It was to be his last league action for Burnley; his only other appearance came as a late substitute in the 2-1 FA Cup win at Middlesbrough.
The last two seasons have both been spent exclusively in League One with Fleetwood and Bolton (2016/17) and Northampton last season. He spent the first half of last season with Fleetwood, making an early impact before a red card derailed his time there, and it was similar in the second half of the season when he was sent off at Bolton having made a good start.
This last season has been spent entirely at Northampton. He’s made 38 league appearances for them but has not been able to prevent them from being relegated into League Two. He’s played a total of 66 league games combined for those three clubs and has scored 14 goals. Now 23, like Ginnelly, he’s a free agent.
We wish both players well and hope they are fixed up with new clubs very soon.
Follow UpTheClarets:
Share this page :