Football transfer due to Championship Manager

by Bristol Evening Post - 13/07/2004

The key figure in the move that brought Robbie Ryan to Bristol Rovers - 16-year-old Ryan Molesworth, was son of the Pirates' new scout Paul Molesworth.



Molesworth senior explained: "I was at home going through a list of potential left-backs when my son Ryan said: 'What about Robbie Ryan? He's out of contract'.



"My son had Robbie in his team on his Championship Manager computer game, and knew he was available.



"I was ready to dismiss the idea at first because I never thought he'd come to us.



"But I had a cup of tea and thought it over, and then decided we might as well give it a try.



"In the end it has worked out brilliantly because we've got him. But if it had not been for my son, I might never have thought of going for him as a target!" Pirates boss Ian Atkins said: "We'd talked about various people for the left-back role, but it had come to nothing. I first spoke to Robbie three weeks ago but he was too expensive for us at the time.



"It's refreshing that he actually came back to us and said he wanted to play here. He did have other clubs interested, but he sees us as a big club with ambition.



"We are not the finished article yet, but we have a good core of players together and it's something to build on." As reported in yesterday's Post, Atkins is expected to make former Aston Villa, Blackpool and Oxford striker Richard Walker his 10th summer recruit in the near future after the player trained with the club during pre-season.







Copyright 2004 Bristol United Press

tell a friend