Bobby still having a ball with new mate

Fleetwood Town's Bobby Grant squeezes a cross into the Peterborough United box

Since Grant’s good friend Ball moved on to Rotherham, he has been replaced by Grant’s fellow Merseysider Conor McAleny.

McAleny’s recovery from an ankle knock is believed to be going well, with the striker back on the training ground, though it is still unclear whether he will be fit enough to feature against Oldham this Saturday.

And experienced Grant says comings and goings come with the territory.

Speaking at the recent fans forum, he added: “That is part and parcel of football. We wanted to keep David and the manager and chairman did everything they could.

“But he wanted a new chapter in his career and he has two young kids. He wanted to see them growing up somewhere else.

“I’ve replaced him with Conor McAleny in my room, so I’ve had three or four phonecalls off David asking what Conor is like! He was a big miss but that is football and you move on.”

And after three wins and a defeat to open the new league campaign, Grant is happy with the start from Uwe Rosler’s young squad.

Town have an average age of 23.1 and Grant is the club’s third-oldest player at 27, behind skipper Nathan Pond and keeper Chris Neal.

He said: “I’m the only forward not to score so far, so I can’t be happy with that!

“I’m over the moon with the way the lads have come back.

“I’m the third-oldest and that shows how young the lads are.

“All of us want to get better. We all want to improve on last season.

“The manager and staff stand us in good stead for the future, and as long as we all keep buying into the ideas they put across to us we will be OK.”

Grant joined Town from Blackpool in 2015 and he says the biggest change since his arrival has been the development of Poolfoot Farm.

He added: “The changing facilities everyone knows are second to none. The standards are high around the place.

“There is a fine system which the big man (Cian Bolger) sorts.

“When I first came the standards were decent, but if you look now it is completely different and also there’s a mentality to win.

“That winning mentality from last year and the run we went on, it was just incredible.

“If we can continue to buy into those standards, you know that with the group of players we have we could be success.”