Stranraer have announced that they have expressed an interest in four players for the new season: Paul Wright, Stephen Robertson, Paul Armstrong and John Farlon. All of these players are currently undergoing trials with the club.

With the start of the season fast approaching, Billy McLaren seems to think that experienced players are what the club needs right now to get the Blues into the promotion contention, with three of teh four players having quite a bit of experience with bigger clubs.

Paul Wright is the most experienced of the four players. The 5'8" forward will be 35 years of age when the season gets underway, and will be one of the few internationalist that Stranraer have signed in their 132 year history.Wright started his football career off at Aberdeen in 1988 as a trainee, before moving south of the border to play a season at QPR. In March 1990 he returned to Scotland to play 36 matches with Hibernian, and score 7 goals in the process. At the start of season 1991/92 he was signed by St. Johnstone for £255,000 and made 112 league appearances, while scoring 40 goals. His ability to score goals saw him move to Rugby Park in 1995 for £340,000, and there he stayed until being freed during the summer of 2001. While at Kilmarnock he scored 58 league goals, and 10 goals in cup competitions. Last season he played for Falkirk (2 goals in 14 games) and Morton (4 goals in 13 games). Paul has also won Scotland Under-21 and a 'B' squad cap, although I am not sure if he won a full cap or not.

 

Stephen Robertson is a goalkeeper who has been plagued by injury throughout his career, and as a consequence has found himself on the subs bench more often than not. The 25-year old, 5'11" 'keeper started his senior career off at St. Johnstone in 1994, and remained at McDermid Park until May 2001, having only played 12 full games for St. Johnstone, and 6 games while on loan to Hamilton Accies. At the start of last season he was picked as a reserve 'keeper at Clydebank, but veteran player Henry Smith only asked the youngster to take over the number 1 jersey on 11 occasions. Robertson was freed by Clydebank at the end of last season.

 

Paul Armstrong, 24, was freed by cash strapped Airdrie at the start of May. The midfielder turned out no fewer than 58 times for the Diamonds over the last two season, and scoring one goal at the same time. His first club was Brighton, joining them as a trainee in 1997, and playing 53 matches over three season. He is originally from Dublin, so at least Allan Jenkins might have someone that can understand his accent on the pitch!

 

John Fallon is a bit of a mystery player. The 20-year old striker was previously with Motherwell, but their current financial situation meant he was freed at the end of last season. He didn't break into the first team last season, although he did play a number of games for the reserves. His last goal for the U21 team was in a 2-0 win over St. Johnstone. The 5'10" previously played for Calderbraes BC.