More ex-Clarets make non-league moves

Just three days ago we brought you news of Ethan Kershaw, Harry Flowers and Christian N’Guessan who were all making moves to new clubs ahead of the 2023/24 season, and today we can add three more who will be moving on to pastures new before the big kick off in August.

We can start in the north east of the country where Will Harris has moved from Gateshead to Spennymoor. Harris was with the Clarets for three years from 2017 until 2020 having come in on a scholarship at sixteen. After leaving the youth team, he continued at Burnley for a further year while his striker partner Michael Fowler, who recently signed for Stockton, was released, but spent much of that 2019/20 season out on loan at Colne and Warrington.

Released at the end of that season, he moved to Sunderland and scored against us in Premier League 2. While on Wearside, he made a Football League debut coming on as a substitute in a 2-1 win at Gillingham in October 2021. He added two more appearances before joining Barrow on loan where he added nine League Two appearances and scoring twice.

He left Sunderland in the summer of last year and joined Gateshead but has now moved to Spennymoor over the weekend. “We are delighted that Will has agreed to join us,” Spennymoor boss Jamie Chandler said: “When we speak about characters and the kind of profile we look for in players who are representing this football club, Will ticks a lot of the boxes. He is technically a very gifted striker, but he also possesses good physical attributes, which is important at the level we are playing at.”

Back in the summer of 2012, then Burnley manager Eddie Howe brought George Porter to Burnley from Leyton Orient in a deal that cost the club £90,000. It didn’t work out for him at Burnley and he didn’t ever play in the first team and had to go out to Colchester and then Wimbledon for first team football.

On leaving Burnley when his contract was terminated after a season and a half, he signed for Rochdale before moving on to Dagenham & Redbridge, Welling, Bromley and more recently Dulwich Hamlet although during that time he did serve a Football Association suspension having placed bets on football matches.

Porter, who will celebrate his 31^st birthday later this month, has now returned home to his first club Cray Wanderers. He played for them during the 2009/10 season before moving to Leyton Orient.

It’s big news at Altrincham. In the first half of last season, they had our former youth team player Chris Conn-Clarke on loan from Fleetwood, but the League One club recalled him in January. He then signed a new long-term deal with Fleetwood before spending the second half of the season on loan at Waterford in Ireland.

Altrincham fans were disappointed when he left and hoped they might again see him on loan this season. They’ve got better than that; he signed a permanent deal with them at the weekend for a record fee for the club.

It’s been described as a blockbuster of a transfer coup by Alty that will be soaring off the scale among their fans. Manager Phil Parkinson said: “It’s with great pleasure and satisfaction that I announce the signing of Chris Conn-Clarke. The signing has been a long time in the making, a lot of effort has gone in by a number of people to get the deal over the line.”

He added: “The club and board have demonstrated their ambitions by investing significantly in Chris Conn-Clarke and making him our club record signing. We all know Chris’ exploits last season and know what he’s capable of at this level of football and, I believe, above.

“I would describe him as a street player because he plays like he hasn’t got a care in the world and that’s when he’s at his very best. Chris needs to be given the freedom to play his game and focus on his strengths in order to get the very best out of him.”

We wish them all the very best at their new clubs.