His move to Scunthorpe United may have taken a while to complete, but Andy Welsh is confident it will be worth the wait. The left-sided midfielder, a free agent after being released by Carlisle United at the end of last season, finally signed a one-year contract with the Iron this lunchtime after undergoing the fitness tests his new team-mates successfully passed at the end of last week.
Scunthorpe’s interest in Welsh first became public a month ago and it is a fortnight since news of a contract offer being more-or-less agreed came to light. Yet keen to ensure Glanford Park was the right place for him to play football – after a disappointing time with the Cumbrians – and largely because the Iron had been waiting for Callum Kennedy to join Oxford United only now has it been completed, even though Kennedy’s expected exit has fallen through.
Not once though has it been a concern to the 29-year-old father-of-two, who has seemingly been a long-term target for Brian Laws. “It helped me make up my mind, because you always want to play for a manager who really wants you to play at his football club,” Welsh told the Scunthorpe Telegraph, of the level of Laws’ pursuit.
“Where he sees me and where we both want the football club to go follows the same path. He’s been a big factor in me coming to sign here. He’s been really keen to sign me all summer, but I wanted a bit of time to think about everything. When I went to Carlisle, I kind of jumped into that move. Because it was a bit early on when we first spoke (with Laws), I thought I was maybe doing the same again. I’ve got my wife and two girls to consider and last time I moved, I went from Yeovil to Carlisle with a two-month-old baby."