Stockport County manager Gary Ablett has confirmed has not offered Ex-Walsall striker Michael Ricketts a permanent deal at Edgeley Park.
In a week of training Ricketts did not feature in either friendlies against Linfield and Real Valladolid during his time with the club
Ablett told the Stockport Express "Michael's not staying. We just felt that it would possibly take too long to try and get him fit and there were problems in terms of the administration as well.
"We need a fit Michael Ricketts to be doing his stuff on the pitch and unfortunately when we weighed it all up we thought we might not get Michael on the pitch and to the standard we require for maybe another four to six weeks, which would have been too late for us really.
"It's one of those things. We'll move on and move forward."
A fit Michael Ricketts could have been a big addition for Stockport who are heavily tipped for relegation this season. His healthy goals / games ratio for Walsall ususally would have made him a certainty to be awarded another contact with us, and rivals. However three red cards in a single season and numerous injury lay-offs have proved too much risk for Stockport and Brighton so far this pre-season. Not to mention his current physical condition.
No doubt a team could take a punt on Ricketts, he is a former England International after-all, but in the current financial climate is there a League One or Two club with the finances to pay his wages while having a potential 6 weeks wait until he can challenge for a place in the line-up!?
Recent Career History By Club (1999 onwards) | ||||||
Team | Debut | Apps (+ sub) | Goals | Yellows | Reds | |
| 03 Nov 2007 | 45 (3) | 17 | 8 | 3 | ||
| 11 Aug 2007 | 11 (1) | 2 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 13 Jan 2007 | 9 (7) | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 24 Sep 2006 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 Jan 2006 | 12 (1) | 2 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 10 Sep 2005 | 17 (0) | 5 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 07 Aug 2005 | 2 (3) | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 22 Feb 2005 | 1 (10) | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 07 Aug 2004 | 11 (13) | 1 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 08 Feb 2003 | 17 (22) | 4 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 23 Feb 2002 | 18 (16) | 7 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 13 Feb 2002 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 26 Aug 2000 | 48 (27) | 38 | 13 | 0 | ||
| 21 (11) | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Recent Career History By Season (1999 onwards) | ||||||
Season | First App. | Apps (+ sub) | Goals | Yellows | Reds | |
| 09 Aug 2008 | 29 (3) | 12 | 5 | 3 | ||
| 11 Aug 2007 | 27 (1) | 7 | 8 | 0 | ||
| 24 Sep 2006 | 9 (9) | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 07 Aug 2005 | 31 (4) | 8 | 10 | 0 | ||
| 07 Aug 2004 | 12 (23) | 1 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 26 Aug 2003 | 12 (18) | 3 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 17 Aug 2002 | 19 (12) | 8 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 18 Aug 2001 | 28 (15) | 15 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 26 Aug 2000 | 25 (20) | 23 | 9 | 0 | ||
| 21 Sep 1999 | 21 (11) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Appearances 213 (+ 116 as sub); Goals 78; Yellow cards 52; Red cards 3 | ||||||