As announced yesterday evening, Thackley AFC are delighted to confirm the double signing of Tom Greaves and Aidan Chippendale, who both sign following their departures from Bury AFC. Both have committed to the Dennyboys for the upcoming 2022/2023 season.

In securing Greaves and Chippendale, Manager Patrick McGuire has secured two of his top targets for this summer.

Greaves is one of the most prolific strikers in non-league football, having last season taken his career tally to over 300 goals. In addition to his goals, Greaves brings with him fantastic experience from his time at clubs at a higher level which will be of benefit to a number of the talented young Thackley AFC players already in the squad. He has previously played for several higher-level clubs, including Bradford (Park Avenue), Ossett Town and Hyde United (amongst others). Greaves also played for FC United of Manchester where he was manager as well.

We are pleased to announce that Greaves will also be taking up the vacant role of Assistant Manager for Thackley AFC, working alongside McGuire and the rest of his First Team Coaching Staff.

In Chippendale, the Dennyboys have secured another fantastic attacking midfield player to the Thackley AFC squad, who can play out wide and centrally.

Chippendale started his career at Bradford City in the Youth Team, before joining Huddersfield Town where he made the First Team squad. Spells then followed at York City, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Accrington Stanley, before joining Bury FC. Most recently, Chippendale has been playing alongside Greaves at the phoenix club, Bury AFC, which formed after the sad demise of Bury FC.

Manager McGuire had the following to say regarding the signing of Greaves:

"It's no secret that I’ve wanted Tom here for a long time and I’m delighted we have finally landed him. For Thackley to sign arguably the greatest goal scorer in non-league is a real statement of intent and where we identified the need to bring in a striker with real goal scoring instincts, we couldn’t have made a better signing than Tom.

Not only will Tom be a vital player for us in terms of what he brings on the pitch, he will be an invaluable asset for our young players to learn from and he will bring the best out of those around him.

Tom will also take on the role of Assistant Manager which I’m thrilled about as I hadn’t replaced Joe Brown who stood down due to work commitments at the beginning of last year. I’m very particular about who comes on the staff, and it often gets overlooked that Tom was Manager of FC United of Manchester, so to have a Coach of that level of quality and experience makes this a fantastic signing on all levels."

Manager McGuire had the following to say regarding the signing of Chippendale:

"The opportunity to sign Aidan was a chance we couldn’t let slip through our fingers and I’m over the moon he has committed to us.

To sign a player with the quality Chippy possesses is a watershed moment in the project here and is a testament to the hard work that has gone in on and off the pitch at Thackley. The way we play will suit Aidan down to the ground and his ability to make things happen will excite the spectators and gives us the added attacking threat we lacked at points during last season.

Chippy follows in his father’s footsteps in becoming a player here and hopefully bringing players of his calibre to the Club will pave the way for more talented players to come on board and help us push on to where we strive to be."

If you are interested in sponsoring either Greaves or Chippendale for the season, please contact the club at ben.oliver@thackley-afc.co.uk to register your interest.