Moneyfields boss Glenn Turnbull ‘upset’ by striker Dec Seiden’s cross-city switch to Wessex League rivals Baffins

Having been a part of Turnbull’s US Portsmouth and Moneys squads for the last few years, the striker made his Baffins debut in Tuesday’s Wessex League loss to Fareham.

Seiden was the second player to leave Moneys for a league rival inside a week with Charlie Bell having previously joined leaders Portchester.

‘I was disappointed to lose both of them,’ Turnbull told The News. ‘I thought we had a commitment from Charlie for the season. But I understand why he’s gone, you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

‘Dec going really surprised me, but again I get it that he just wants to play football.

‘I tried to persuade him to stay, that I didn’t want to see him go, but his mind was made up. I thought he might have stayed for the rest of the season.

‘It’s upset me, but more emotionally than football wise.

‘He’s been with me for five or six years now, he was one of the reasons I decided to take over as manager at US - the likes of Dec and Callum Glen, people I’d been around with for many years.

Seiden’s departure - after being restricted to sub appearances in recent weeks - underlined how difficult it is for managers to keep all their players happy.

‘I was offered a couple of players recently, they would have been dual signings, and probably as good or better than what I’ve got.

‘But to have played them would have been to upset the balance. And then when they went back to their parent clubs you’d have to go back to the players who you had let down (by dropping).

‘It was a real dichotomy, but in the end I decided not to take them.’

Turnbull is without the suspended Josh Hazell for the trip to table-topping Portchester this weekend,

But Callum Glen, initially thought to be suspended due to picking up a certain number of bookings, could be available - one of his cautions was in an FA Cup tie.

Club record scorer Steve Hutchings came off against Hamble last Friday with a calf strain and didn’t feature in Tuesday’s Russell Cotes Cup loss at Stoneham.

Moneyfields have central defensive concerns as, apart from long-term absentee Tom Cain, Harry Birmingham is out for several weeks with an arm injury, Adam Cripps is unavailable and Corey Heath is injured.

In addition, Jack Lee came off with a hamstring injury at Stoneham on Tuesday and ex-Portchester defender Craig Hardy, signed before Christmas, has now left. ‘Craig did a great job for us but it didn’t light his fire,’ reported Turnbull.

Moneys attempted to sign experienced centre half Craig Stanley, who recently stepped down as manager of Wessex Premier rivals Blackfield & Langley, but he decided to join Hythe as a player instead.

‘Craig would have been ideal, he would have added experience and worked alongside Jack Lee,’ Turnbull explained.

‘We still want to finish as high as we can, we don’t want to plod through the last 10 games.

‘The top four will finish as the top four but we want to finish top of the next mini-league. Beating Hamble (2-0) last Friday was massive and Baffins losing in midweek also helped.’

Moneys’ task at the weekend is to try and become the first Wessex team to take a point off Portchester at the On-Site Group Stadium this season.

Tuesday’s 4-2 win over Hamble was the Royals’ 15th successive home league victory in 2022/23.

Due to a quirk of the fixture list, their last four home fixtures are all PO postcode derbies - Moneys’ visit being followed by US Portsmouth, Baffins and title rivals Horndean.