Charlie Griffin signs for Stevenage

Graham Westley has already completed his first piece of business of the summer, securing the signature of Salisbury City striker Charlie Griffin. The Bath born forward was out of contract at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium and moves to Hertfordshire on a free transfer. Griffin had a prolific season in front of goal for the Whites and wasn’t far away from beating Steve Morison in the Blue Square Premier goalscoring charts. He hit 21 goals in 45 league games for a struggling Salisbury side, including 2 against Boro in January.

The signing of Griffin almost confirms the imminent departure of captain Steve Morison. Boro’s talisman is expected to complete a switch to League 1 side Millwall in the next 48 hours or so. It’s believed that Millwall have activated a £85,000 clause in Morison’s contract he signed last summer and could move to the New Den by the end of the week. Kenny Jackett’s side are currently in the middle of a two leg play-off semi final against Leeds United and travel to Elland Road on Thursday, leading 1-0 after the first leg. It’s possible the Morison deal will be announced once that game has finished.

I’m glad that GW has moved quickly to replace Morison. Of course goalscorers are not always easy to find, just ask Woking, but we always seem to find another good striker to replace the last one. Before Morison we had Elding and before him players like Hayles and Alford have always kept Boro scoring. Hopefully Griffin won’t be the last striker to join Boro in the summer. With Willock also expected to depart BHW then that would just leave Boylan and Griffin, so I’m sure GW and his staff are looking around for other targets.

Griffin has a good record in this division and has scored plenty of goals this season for Salisbury. He is definately a different type of striker to Morison, but I think a good one to have in the squad. He gives a bit of variety in attack, which will certainly be needed in next season’s promotion push. GW has already stated that he hopes to add a few more players to the squad, but keep the core of this season’s squad together. I think that is all that is needed as Boro look to push on next season and finally win promotion to the football league.