STRIKER McEVILLY IS SHOWN THE DOOR BY CAREY
Mark Currie - Daily Post

STRIKER Lee McEvilly has been told he has no future at Wrexham and is free to find himself another club.

Racecourse boss Brian Carey last night confirmed that the 25-year-old Liverpudlian had been declared surplus to requirements, although the club seem unlikely to recoup the £25,000 fee paid to Accrington Stanley in the summer of 2005.

McEvilly, who has a year left on his current contract, has not figured in either of Wrexham's pre-season matches to date and made only 55 appearances for the Dragons over the course of two injury-hit seasons in which he scored 16 goals.

Carey said: "I've had a chat with Lee and I told him he was not going to be part of our plans for the new season.

"We are well covered in terms of strikers and he is some way down the pecking order so he is not going to be first choice.

"But we realise he needs to be playing first-team football and we wish him well in the future.

"From what I understand there may be a couple of clubs interested in signing him so he's free to talk to them and his name has been circulated to all the other league clubs."

Racecourse chief executive Anthony Fairclough will handle all the arrangements for McEvilly's departure and with the player entitled to a cash settlement in exchange for the remainder of his contract, Wrexham will be looking for a deal that goes some way towards balancing the books.

During the summer, Carey has signed experienced strikers Michael Proctor and Eifion Williams to join Neil Roberts and Chris Llewellyn.

And the Irish boss is currently running the rule over trialists Chris Simms - from Leigh RMI - and Carmarthen's Kiad Mohamed, who are hoping to step up from the non-league game and will be staying with the club for at least a further two weeks.

And as McEvilly prepares to leave, injury-hit striker Juan Ugarte is due back at the club tomorrow after spending the summer in Spain where he has been working with the medical team responsible for his knee surgery earlier in the year.

According to reports from San Sebastian, Ugarte is now ready to resume full-time training and Carey is prepared to give him every opportunity to rediscover the goal-scoring form that endeared him to Dragons fans during his first spell with the club.

With 24 senior professionals on the books and the possibility of another new signing before the end of the month, Carey revealed he wants to send some of the younger squad members out on loan at some stage of the season.

But he admitted that Welsh Premier clubs were unlikely to benefit because its member clubs are subject to the same transfer windows that apply to the Premier League.

"Any loan deal to a Welsh Premier club would be for a minimum of six months, which is not an ideal situation for us," said the Dragons manager yesterday.

"We have a good crop of youngsters coming through and hopefully we'll be able to send some out to gain valuable experience.

"But we'll have to wait and see how things settle down in the first few weeks of the season before making any firm decisions on the young players."

I'D LOVE TO MANAGE MY HOMETOWN CLUB - SAV
Mark Currie - Daily Post

FORMER Wales international Robbie Savage has confirmed he would like to end his playing career with hometown club Wrexham and possibly stay on to manage the Racecourse club.

The 32-year-old Blackburn Rovers midfielder, who has never made any secret of his affection for the League Two outfit, was speaking after Tuesday night's Racecourse friendly between the two clubs.

Savage, in his first match since breaking a leg in January, scored a first-half penalty as the Premiership side scrapped out a 2-1 victory and he said: "It's great to be back because it's been a long and hard six months."

Given just 45 minutes of game time by Ewood Park manager Mark Hughes, Savage added: "It was probably the most nervous I've ever been before a match. I winced a few times in some of the tackles, but the leg was fine.

"This match was my reward for a lot of hard work I've put in to recover from what was a bad break."

Looking beyond his current Blackburn contract, Savage said: "Hopefully one day I'll play for Wrexham and maybe even be the manager.

"I used to stand in the Kop watching them in every home game and I love the club.

"I was delighted when they stayed up last season and I still look for the results every week. Hopefully they can get more money in and go higher up the league."