Niall Currie warns Irish League rivals Portadown's key players aren't going anywhere after receiving interest in 'four or five of our guys'
Portadown manager Niall Currie has warned Irish League rivals that his key men are staying at Shamrock Park after revealing there’s been interest in “four or five of our guys” during the summer transfer window.
The Ports enjoyed an impressive return to life in the Premiership last term, ultimately finishing eighth, and moved quickly to tie down star talent to extended contracts, including Ahu Obhakhan and Josh Ukek, who shone in their maiden Irish League campaigns.
It’s understood the attacking duo are amongst the Ports players to attract admirers and both started in Saturday’s 4-1 league win against Dungannon Swifts as Currie’s men picked up their first points of the new term.
While Currie believes it’s testament to the squad he has compiled that clubs have came calling, he’s adamant there will be no high-profile exits as Portadown look to build.
"This is why we worked so hard to retain these guys,” said Currie. “These guys are all contracted to the club for another year, that’s the bottom line, so they are staying.
“They're staying – the board is fully supportive of me in that stance.
“We've had many questions asked about four or five of our guys...that's a compliment to us and it's a compliment to the club as well.
“The club now has assets for the first time in a long time. Portadown Football Club has four or five players that the big boys want to come and take.
“So, we're proud of that. We've worked hard. Shane Dolan (Head of Recruitment in the Republic of Ireland) brought us up some gems from down south.
“It's a good thing that you've got four or five players in your changing rooms that the big boys want to have. But ultimately, they're going nowhere. We're staying strong.
"Our club is not a selling club. It's not a feeder club to any club. This is a big club.
“We don't want to be the feeder club to any of the big boys. So, we have full intentions of making sure we keep our assets and we build on our assets.
"We've had plenty of enquiries, but they’ve all been batted away by me and then thankfully by the board.”
Currie continues to search for further additions to help bolster Portadown’s ranks and has revealed another player could come through the doors at Shamrock Park prior to Tuesday’s clash against Ballymena United.
The County Armagh club have been without Shay McCartan and Rabby Minzamba at the start of the new campaign while Ray Tulloch, who joined from Shelbourne, has suffered from an injury setback.
Currie hopes to have all three back in the coming weeks and views the trio as crucial.
"Rabby is probably a week away,” added Currie. “Ray is probably two weeks away, as is Shay, but that's before they start actually joining into our training.
"We'll have to get them in as quickly as we can, fill them up with as many minutes as we can….that's the way it goes. We'll be delighted to have all three back.
“We're hopeful we'll bring one or two more bodies in. We're still a small squad. We were working off about 18 senior players (on Saturday).
"If you look at our bench, we need a couple of bodies...we're all working hard to get another couple of bodies in.”