Jeffrey Loaned Back to Wood

Jeffrey will need no introduction to the Wood faithful, as his performances over the last few years, saw him produce some of the best football of his career and those performances earned him his move to Forest Green.

It’s been an eventful five months for Jeffrey. After his initial move, he sustained an ankle injury against FC Halifax Town in April, and there was then a change in manager soon after, which preceded their Promotion Final defeat against Grimsby Town at Wembley Stadium.

An early summer ankle operation then followed and Wood then learnt that Jeffrey could be available this week after conversations between Forest Green manager Mark Cooper and Wood boss Luke Garrard.

Garrard quickly spoke with chairman Danny Hunter and he had no hesitation in tying up a deal to bring Jeffrey back to the club.

Jeffrey had a number of options open to him, including one from one of the bigger clubs in this division. However, home is where the heart is and with the minimum of fuss, Wood are delighted he has decided to return to Meadow Park on a season-long loan.

On bringing Jeffrey back to Meadow Park, Garrard said: “AJ is a little bit behind in his pre-season work due to his operation. We’re fine with that though, as he cannot play in our opening against Forest Green on August 6th anyway.

“AJ will begin with us on Monday. We will not rush him and I’ll hand him straight to the medical team to assess him and put him through his paces. That said I expect him to be fit and firing before the season starts and he may play a small part at St Albans City on the 23rd July, to gauge his fitness and blow some of the cobwebs away.”

Chairman Danny Hunter said: “AJ is clearly very comfortable here with us and as such we’re delighted to have him back. He had a problem at the end of last season with his ankle and that’s now I believe all sorted and behind him. With his pace and directness I expect him to get us on the front foot and hopefully he can terrify a few defences.”

Hunter concluded by saying: “As always a deal like this cannot be done without the agreement of all three parties. As always, it was a pleasure to deal with both the Forest Green secretary James Mooney and their chairman Dale Vince. They deal with everything in such a professional way and with the minimum of fuss and we got the deal completed in a timely fashion”.