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Phoenix agree terms with new forward

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With less than a month to go before the start of the new season in the bmibaby Elite League, Manchester Phoenix player/coach Tony Hand is close to finalising his roster.

Speaking from his Edinburgh base Hand commented, "we agreed terms with a strong defenseman about two weeks ago, and he's got the paperwork. As soon as he returns from holiday and attending to some personal family business, we'll be able to announce him. He completes our defence and now the task is securing the final two forwards."

Phoenix had been negotiating with an experienced European until last weekend when the player asked for extra time and then signed with another team. Hand added, "It was a little disappointing as we made the guy a good offer and thought he would accept it. He made his choice and so we move on. There is no shortage of potential targets out there and we've now agreed terms with a player who will be new to the UK. We've issued the contract paperwork out and it should be back very shortly."

Phoenix expect to announce the new forward early next week and now have just one more place on the roster to fill. Hand closed saying, "I've been comfortable all along with the policy of taking our time and look as long as we can into the pool of available players. I'm very happy with the guys we've signed and now it's just the final player to complete the jigsaw. We'll have two good weeks of training together once the squad assembles and I'm confident that we'll be ready to go."