By Mark Currie, Daily Post
30 December 2005
TONY THORPE FACT FILE |
Height 5ft
9in Weight 12st Date of birth: April 10, 1974 Place of birth: Leicester PLAYING CAREER SWINDON: July 2005- (Free) ROTHERHAM: Mar-Apr 2005 (Loan) QPR: Aug 2003-July 2005 (£50,000) LUTON: Jun 2002-Aug 2003 (Free) Nov1999-Jan 2000 (Loan) Mar-May 1999 (Loan) READING: Feb-Mar 1999 (Loan) BRISTOL CITY: Jun 1998-Jun 2002 (£1m) FULHAM: Feb-Jun 1998 (£800,000) LUTON: Aug 1992-Feb 1998 (Free) LEICESTER: Aug 1991-Aug 1992 (Junior) |
MUCH-TRAVELLED striker Tony Thorpe is training
with Wrexham, who will be seeking to strengthen their squad when the transfer
window opens next week.
Racecourse manager Denis Smith, who needs a short-term replacement for the
injured Lee McEvilly, said: "Tony's come here to have a look at us and I've not
had the opportunity to see him play for 12 months or more, so we'll take it from
there.
"He's 31 now, but he's scored goals wherever he's been so I wanted to see him
and I also wanted him to see the facilities we have to offer.
"Tony has had offers to go to several other clubs and travelling here might also
be a problem for him, but nothing is fixed on either side and we are taking
nothing as read."
The 31-year old Leicester-born player has averaged a goal every two games during
a long and varied career, the highlight of which was a £1m move to Bristol City
in 1998.
He has also scored goals for Luton Town, Reading, Queens Park Rangers and
Fulham.
Thorpe joined Swindon Town last summer, but has since figured in just a handful
of games and will be a free agent in January.
Yesterday's freezing conditions at the Dragons' Colliers Park training complex
restricted Smith's opportunity to put Thorpe fully through his paces as the
Dragons boss was keen to avoid any unnecessary injuries.
"It's very difficult to train when the ground is this hard," Smith added.
"The players have been out running with the ball, but it's been pretty much
half-pace.
"There's not a lot we can do about the weather, but hopefully the cold snap will
ease off in the next couple of days so that we can get Saturday's game against
Grimsby on.
"The forecast is for a slightly warmer spell in the next 48 hours and hopefully
that will be the case."
Despite the postponement of Wednesday's derby game at Chester City and lingering
doubts over tomorrow's Racecourse clash with the League Two front-runners, Smith
is not an advocate of a mid-winter break.
"A break would mean either starting the season earlier or ending it later
because the games have to be fitted in somewhere," he said.
"And if there was a break it would not be over this holiday period because
there's too much money involved at this time of year.
"If we had a January break, there's no guarantee it would coincide with the
worst weather of the winter because that's never reliable."
Fans who bought tickets for the Chester match have been advised to keep them
safe for use when the match is re-scheduled, although Wrexham secretary Geraint
Parry is not confident that a new date is imminent.
He said: "The Football League and both clubs would prefer to arrange the game as
quickly as possible, but any agreement will be subject to safety committee and
police approval.
"Given that it will be an evening kick-off the feeling is that the game could be
put off until the nights become lighter when it will be easier to police."