High demand for City trio

By Nathan Jackson
February 15 2005

City's disgraced pair Marcus Richardson and Cairan Toner, as well as Simon Yeo could be heading for City's exit door. Richardson and Toner are heavily linked with loan moves away from Sincil Bank whereas Yeo is reportedly a target for several clubs including League One high flyers Tranmere.

Last Thursday saw an incident involving Toner and Richardson getting into a fight. Richardson was dropped from the squad to face Rochdale whereas Toner was injured before hand so he wouldn't have been playing anyway. Both are heavily linked with loan moves to other clubs with Richardson reportedly heading for Rochdale according to the Lincolnshire Echo. However, manager Keith Alexander isn't exactly in a hurry to do the two players any favours.

"There has been plenty of calls regarding Marcus and I can confirm Rochdale are interested in him, There has also been calls about Ciaran but I can tell you now I am in no rush to help either of them.

" I don't think it will be until Thursday before I even speak to them. They are the least of my worries. They know they have let me down. When I brought them to this club both players' careers were heading for a dead-end. I gave them a chance and this is how they have repaid me. I am very disappointed by the whole matter and so are their team-mates."

It would be a miracle if either player ever play for the club again. Richardson signed on a permanent basis just over a year ago from Hartlepool United after 2 successful loan spells. Toner on the other hand was snapped up on a free transfer after being released by Leyton Orient.

One of the teams leading the chase for Toner are Kidderminster Harriers who were strongly linked with a move for the midfielder a few weeks ago but Keith turned down the chance to get rid of his then.

One player that the fans wouldn't want to see the back of is Simon Yeo who is attracting interest from a lot of higher division teams with the leading chasers believed to be League One promotion chasers Tranmere Rovers. Yeo, who's family still lives in Stockport has turned down several moves to clubs a lot closer to his home including Stockport themselve but has turned them down due to the relationship with the club, however, that could now change because of the announcement of the major profits meaning that Yeo shalln't be expecting another reductions and it would probably take a fair raise to keep him at the club. Yeo's agent told the Echo that 6 clubs had already enquired about securing the services of Simon at the end of the season. Yeo has scored 7 goals in the last 4 games to take his total up to 16 for the season, already his highest season total in a City shirt with 15 games to go.

"My phone has been red hot over the past week because Simon has been on fire," said Dunford. "He is scoring goals for fun and there has been a lot of interest.