AFC Fylde chairman reiterates that Danny Rowe can achieve EFL dream at Mill Farm

AFC Fylde have successfully negotiated another transfer window without losing talisman Danny Rowe

Fylde rejected a £50,000 bid from a Football League club on deadline day last week.

Haythornthwaite did not want to embarrass the club concerned or disrupt future business by naming them.

But he did stress that there was never a chance the National League’s top scorer would leave last month.

Rowe signed a two-year deal in 2017 and Fylde have the option to extend that contract to cover next season.

Fylde previously turned down a bid from League Two Cheltenham, believed to have been worth up to £180,000.

Haythornthwaite believes the striker is worth far more and his record shows just why the chairman is keen to keep hold of him.

He made it 21 league goals for the season with a double in the win at Solihull Moors last time out and there are still 15 games remaining.

Having scored 35, 31, 48 and 24 in his previous four seasons, Rowe has taken his total to 159 league goals for the club he joined in 2014 after a season with Lincoln City.

That 48-goal season was the Coasters’ National League North promotion season in 2016-17. Now he needs five more for a half-century in non-league football’s top tier.

Haythornthwaite says he values Rowe so highly because of the striker’s rare consistency and he hopes the forward fires them up to the next level.

And with Dave Challinor’s side currently fourth in the National League and just four points behind leaders Leyton Orient there is no reason why Rowe could not be a Football League player at Fylde in six months’ time.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s trip to relegation-battling Maidstone United, Haythornthwaite told The Gazette: “We put a price on Danny Rowe.

“I think a couple of years ago Danny said in public that we were asking too much and he wanted his chance to go and play in a higher league.

“I’ve said to Danny from day one, ‘Stay with us and you will get us into a higher league. We need you to do that’.

“He signed a new contract and you cannot find people like Danny Rowe who can score consistently.

“He is the leading scorer again in the league and it is unbelievable.

“He’s a great character, a local lad and everything you would want for your football team. We are delighted he is here but there was never any doubt he was going anywhere else.

“It would have to be silly money but nobody came close to even tempting us!”

Fylde’s home National League fixture against Havant and Waterlooville has been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 19 (7.45pm).

Originally earmarked for next Tuesday, the game has been moved back seven days as Fylde must first replay their FA Trophy third round tie against Ramsbottom United after this week’s 5-5 draw.