Eight Magpies allowed to leave

Notts County set to relaunch Centre of Excellance

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 13th May 2008

mcparland ian notts county manager

McParland: Excited by future

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  • Austin McCann
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Notts County have released eight players after manager Ian McParland announced his retained list.

Defender Lee Canoville, midfielders Andy Parkinson, Gary Silk and Matthew Somner and strikers Lawrie Dudfield and Jason Lee head the list of those leaving Meadow Lane.

Also on their way will be youngster Rob Austin, and Austin McCann who is set to join Dunfermline after signing a pre-contract agreement with the SPL side earlier this year.

Goalkeeper Kevin Pilkington, defender Mike Edwards and young winger Stef Frost have been offered new deals.

A club spokesman said "Everyone connected with Notts County Football Club would like to thank those players being released for all their effort and hard work during their time at the club and we all wish them well in the future."

Infrastructure

Meanwhile, McParland is hoping that the relaunch of the Magpies' Centre of Excellence will help to establish strong foundations for the future of the club.

"Plans are in place for re-launching the Centre of Excellence over the next few months, and I am very excited about it," he told the club's official website.

"The year after that the under-18 youth team will be back, and 12 months down the line I would like to think we will be able to field a reserve team - whether it is in a reserves league of just playing friendly matches.

"A year after that I would hope we will be starting to get one or two lads from the Centre of Excellence who are in and around the first team, and then definitely the year after that you would hope to have a few recruits from the Centre playing in the first-team.

"That is the infrastructure of a proper football club. It's the way it used to be at Meadow Lane and I'm very keen to see us get back to that situation. Whether I see that out, time will tell because in all honesty, a manager's lifespan is not too long.

"We know we're not a Peterborough or an MK Dons with a lot of money flying about, but with what we've got we will do our best to move Notts County forward from the first-team to the Centre of Excellence."