Moneyfields jigsaw now complete as AFC Portchester record breaker Steve Ramsey joins

Steve Ramsey, right, has joined Moneyfields after making 274 appearances for AFC Portchester. Picture: Keith Woodland

Ramsey has left Wessex League Premier Division AFC Portchester after eight seasons at the On-Site Group Stadium.

He scored 75 goals in 274 appearances for the Royals - making him the club’s record appearance holder during their Wessex career and the second highest goalscorer.

His friendship with Turnbull’s assistant, Joe Noakes, his former Royals colleague, was instrumental in making the switch.

Ramsey, who had a short loan spell at Baffins Milton Rovers last season, is the midfielder Turnbull was looking to sign after losing Callum Glen and Jordan Pile.

He joins Tom Jeffes, Charlie Bell and Stan Bridgman as new faces ahead of the club’s opening pre-season friendly against the Isle of Wight representative side this weekend.

The IoW side - managed by former Moneys player Tom McInnes - asked for a game as preparation for their upcoming Island Games tournament.

The friendly kicks off at Havant & Waterlooville’s Westleigh Park at 4pm on Saturday - with Portchester facing Camberley at the same ground with a 1pm start.

Ramsey, a regular at Hawks and Gosport prior to joining Portchester, won’t feature against the Isle of Wight, but Turnbull hopes to field two completely different teams in each half.

They will include midfielder James Franklyn and centre half Tom Cain, who both missed large chunks of last season through injury.

Also set for a comeback could be goalkeeper Callum McGeorge, whose 2022/23 campaign lasted barely two minutes.

McGeorge was sent off shortly after kick off in Moneys’ opening game, for bringing down Horndean’s Rudi Blankson. A few days later, he picked up a knee injury in training.

‘Rambo (Ramsey) will add a bit of quality and he will get some goals,’ said Turnbull.

‘When we met him, all the talk was about what we’re trying to do here and how he fits into that.

‘There was no talk of pound notes, which was good as they’re hard to come by at Moneyfields at the moment!

‘We’ve got a clutch of good players who will improve the squad from the one we finished last season with.’

Asked if he had finished signing players this summer, Turnbull added: ‘Yeah, I’m happy with every position - we filled all the areas we needed to.’

Moneys have two more friendlies the following weekend - against Eversley & California at Front Lawn on the Friday and against Hawks at Westleigh Park the following afternoon.