18 year old Rob who was part of the First Team squad last season has signed a new deal whilst Thomas Dunningham another 18 year old has signed his first contract with the club also signing a 1 year deal.

Regent Boss Tom Rothery had this to say on the latest two committing themselves to the club for next season. “Rob is an excellent young man and has a really bright future ahead of him so it’s great that he wants to stay at the club for another season.

He will however be beginning pre-season with Millwall as they have invited him back for the first 3 weeks of their pre-season; we will see how that develops.

As a club and personally, I’m really pleased for Rob and he obviously did enough in April when playing in a trial game for them to be impressed and for him to earn more time with the club.

Their Head of Recruitment told me that they really liked what they saw and they also like the fact that Rob is so eager and keen to listen, learn and develop.

Thomas signing again shows what we are trying to do as a club and that’s develop our own players and move them through into the First Team and show that there’s a clear pathway for the youngsters at Brightlingsea Regent if they are committed, dedicated and wanting to progress as individuals and players.

For me it’s great to work with Thomas having coached him when he was 12 and last season he showed that he could play at this level and now it’s for Thomas to really work hard and try to push himself right to the front of my thoughts and cement himself into our First Team squad”.