KEITH Alexander has bolstered his squad, with the addition of veteran midfielder Paul Bolland.

Alexander’s rebuilding has continued with the signing of 29-year-old Bolland on a one-year deal.

The experienced Bolland has experience at Championship and League One level during spells with Notts County and Grimsby Town, and the Macc Town boss makes no secret of his delight at securing his services for the next 12 months.

"I’m very pleased to have got him," he told the Express. "He’ll bring us a wealth of experience. I’ve been tracking Paul all summer and because he missed a lot of last season through injury, he’ll feel he’s got something to prove.

"We’ve been looking to strengthen the midfield obviously and we see him as having more quality than we’ve had at times.

"When we play 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 next season, he is the type of player that we’ll want to have in the middle."

Bolland began his career at Bradford City before moving to Notts County in 1999. After his release from Meadow Lane, he switched to Grimsby in summer 2005.

Bolland has earned himself a reputation as a mobile and energetic player and, despite an injury in pre-season keeping him sidelined for the entire 2008/2009 campaign, Mariners boss Mike Newell did try to keep him at Blundell Park.

However, the lure of a fresh challenge at the Moss Rose appealed to him and became Alexander’s newest recruit this week.

And as the squad reported for training this morning [Wed] the importance of a good pre-season won’t be under-estimated by Alexander, who has not yet completed his overhaul of the playing staff.

"We’ve made several signings and at least one more should be coming in next week," he revealed.

"We’re doing what we can and we want to be ready to go in the first pre-season game.

"The days when pre-season was used to get players fit are gone. It’s a very important time, the first few weeks when the players are together and you want to see how they get on and who the strong characters are.

"A player’s character is even more important these days, and you need to have a good mix.

"The pre-season games are these players’ chances to stake their claims for a place for the Northampton game."

One player still to decide his future is Izak Reid. With Gareth Evans’ transfer to Bradford City completed, the former academy star is the only Silkman with a current offer outstanding.

"It’s looking obvious that he wants to leave so we’ll see if he turns up for training this week," added Alexander.


* MACC are offering three home pre-season games for the price of two this summer.

Admission prices for the three friendlies at the Moss Rose - against Oldham Athletic (July 21), Tranmere Rovers (July 25) and Huddersfield Town (July 28) - are £10 adults and £5 concessions.

Pre-season ‘three-for-two’ tickets are available at the Moss Rose ticket office from Monday.