St Ives Town manager Ricky Marheineke insists any players who fail to give their full commitment to the club will be shown the door.
Marheineke’s warning comes after Southern League Premier Division strugglers released Jordan Jarrold late last week.
Jarrold was a promotion winner during a two-and-a-half year stay at ProEdge Westwood Road, but Marheineke came to the conclusion the left-back saw his future elsewhere.
Marheineke said: “Myself and Jordan had a conversation recently that left me feeling his long-term future would not be at St Ives - therefore I took the decision to release him now so he can get fixed up elsewhere for the rest of the season.
“I feel there are some players who are simply here for the ride and it is my job as manager to work out who they are and take whatever action I feel is appropriate. Jordan is one who fell into that category.”
Jarrold has not been featuring regularly for Saints since the arrival of Luke Warner-Eley in early December.
Marheineke is tracking three possible recruits – a central defender, a midfielder and a wideman. The Saints boss has also recalled Ben Sawyer from a loan spell at Barton Rovers.
Third-bottom Saints face a busy spell of three games in six days, starting with a trip to mid-table Frome Town on Wednesday night.
Marheineke can only call on 11 senior players for the 350-mile round trip to Somerset. Danny Kelly, Phil Draycott and Danny Watson all have work commitments, Declan Rogers is away, Eugene Libertucci is injured and Lloyd Groves is managing the club’s Under 18 side in a youth fixture.
Saints then face successive home clashes against play-off chasing opponents. Chesham are the visitors this Saturday before Slough arrive on Tuesday.
Marheineke added: “A 350-mile round trip is far from ideal on a Wednesday night, but games have to be played and we’ll do all we can at Frome.
“Hopefully we can be competitive at home against Chesham and Slough. They’re two very good sides who are fighting for places in the play-offs, but our aim is to pick up points.”
Saints have only managed to play three home fixtures so far in 2018. They saw their two most recent ProEdge Westwood Road games postponed in the last few days.
A clash with Royston was controversially called off last Tuesday by match referee Martyn Gospel after passing an inspection earlier in the day, but the loss of a date against Stratford last Saturday was much more understandable following heavy rain.
The fixture against Royston has now been rearranged for March 27 with the Stratford fixture shifted to April 17.
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