{"id":577464,"date":"2021-01-05T11:44:59","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T16:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=577464"},"modified":"2021-01-05T11:44:59","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T16:44:59","slug":"stevenage-announce-new-signings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/01\/05\/stevenage-announce-new-signings\/","title":{"rendered":"Stevenage Announce Three New Signings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/d10c76c1\/Chris-Lines\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Lines<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/9bffd410\/Mathew-Stevens\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matty Stevens<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/6158b76c\/Luke-Norris\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke Norris<\/a> have all completed transfers to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=stevenage\" target=\"_self\">Stevenage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Experienced midfielder Lines joins from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=northampton+town\" target=\"_self\">Northampton<\/a> on a permanent deal. Lines has signed a contract until the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Striker Stevens joins from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=forest+green+rovers\" target=\"_self\">Forest Green Rovers<\/a> on loan for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Luke Norris joins from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=colchester+united\" target=\"_self\">Colchester United<\/a> for an undisclosed fee. He, like Lines, has agreed a deal until the end of the season.<\/p>\n<h2>Stevenage Announce Three New Signings<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Welcome to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/StevenageFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#StevenageFC<\/a>, Chris Lines, Matty Stevens &amp; Luke Norris! \u270d\ufe0f\u270d\ufe0f\u270d\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GreaterTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#GreaterTogether<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Stevenage FC \ud83d\udd34\u26aa (@StevenageFC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StevenageFC\/status\/1346448867684974597?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 5, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Chris Lines Moves From Northampton<\/h3>\n<p>Experienced midfielder Lines has been there and done everything in the EFL. The 35-year-old brings plenty of experience to a young Stevenage team. His ability to break down play and start attacks will be crucial as Stevenage battle to avoid relegation.<\/p>\n<p>Lines has featured for a vast array of clubs including <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=bristol+rovers\" target=\"_self\">Bristol Rovers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=sheffield+wednesday\" target=\"_self\">Sheffield Wednesday<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=mk+dons\" target=\"_self\">Milton Keynes Dons<\/a>. The midfielder has made just four appearance for the Cobblers this season and a move to Stevenage offers regular game time and a fresh challenge.<\/p>\n<h3>Matty Stevens and Luke Norris Complete the Stevenage Signings<\/h3>\n<p>Stevenage have been desperately short on goals this season. Only basement side <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=southend+united\" target=\"_self\">Southend United<\/a> have scored fewer goals than Alex Revell\u2019s side. The signings of Matty Stevens and Luke Norris certainly beef up their attack.<\/p>\n<p>Stevens only signed for Forest Green in the summer from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=peterborough+united\" target=\"_self\">Peterborough United<\/a> but has featured just ten times in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=league+two\" target=\"_self\">League Two<\/a>. He has managed just two goals this season but regular game time is on offer at Stevenage alongside a chance for him to score goals and find some confidence.<\/p>\n<p>Norris, in contrast, has been a fixture in the Colchester United team. He has featured in 17 of Colchester\u2019s 21 league games, scoring four times. Norris is proven at League Two level, scoring 33 times in his last three and half seasons at this level. He leaves a promotion battle with Colchester to help Stevenage preserve their football league status.<\/p>\n<p>Stevenage face <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/category\/league-football\/championship\/swansea\/\" target=\"_self\">Swansea City<\/a> in the FA Cup this weekend. However, it\u2019s unclear whether all three are available because they may have participated for their previous clubs in the competition. Their debuts will likely come in Stevenage\u2019s next league game which is against <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=tranmere+rovers\" target=\"_self\">Tranmere Rovers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Stevenage Chairman Phil Wallace Delighted With New Recruits<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stevenagefc.com\/news\/2021\/january\/stevenage-football-club-january-transfer-window-player-signing-luke-norris-chris-lines-matty-stevens-sky-bet-league-two-efl-english-football-league-monday-4th-january-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Speaking to the Stevenage website<\/a> about their new signings, Wallace said: \u201cWe are pleased with these first three additions early in the window and they allow us to settle down and be patient over the next one or two incomings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe management know where they want to strengthen but sometimes you have to wait for the right opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the moment things are definitely going in the right direction. I believe we are starting to see the benefits of the hard work and planning coming through in the results lately and we are very positive about our targets and ambitions for 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<br \/>\n<a id=\"JO6wtcQfStdlRaNfb2fhxw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1213525649\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'JO6wtcQfStdlRaNfb2fhxw',sig:'Blje4FuLzHD2i4ruO2L30wpUABIMC6xCQX_21n_cXWM=',w:'594px',h:'403px',items:'1213525649',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Lines, Matty Stevens and Luke Norris have all completed transfers to Stevenage. Experienced midfielder Lines joins from Northampton on a permanent deal. Lines has signed a contract until the end of the season. Striker Stevens joins from Forest Green Rovers on loan for the rest of the season. Luke Norris joins from Colchester United [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3241,"featured_media":577479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,34,28],"tags":[168,827,4120,1297,3089,136],"class_list":["post-577464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-league-football","category-league12","category-transfers","tag-efl","tag-efl-league-two","tag-football-news","tag-football-transfer-news","tag-stevenage","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Tom Cunningham, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3241"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}