New deal for Town's captain fantastic

Pond, 31, had six months remaining on his contract that was due to end in July but he has just put pen to paper on a new one-year deal with the option for another year.

The skipper has been at the club since 2003 and etched his name in the Guinness Book of World Records after clinching his sixth promotion with the club and playing in a seventh division with Fleetwood as they reached League One for the first time in 2014.

Pond has been an ever-present in the league this term and Rosler says the defender is an example to all.

He said: “I’m very pleased for Pondy. I’m very pleased that the chairman (Andy Pilley) has seen it the same way that we did.

“I think Pondy has been brilliant since I walked through that door both on the pitch and off the pitch; that is very important for the group.

“I’m sure he is improving day by day; he knows exactly what to do to keep on improving.

“He is an example for the rest of the group and I’m very happy to have him.

“Going through all those divisions that is unusual, that is why he is in the Guinness book.

“Have I met players who have that desire to work on their game and getting better? Yes. Not many but he is right up there with the best.

“He realises where he comes from, he realises what football can give him and he just enjoys it.

“The older, the more experienced he gets, the more he knows he has to be on the top of his game and keep going and improving.

“He is not the sort of character that will let it go now by signing a new contract; I think that will just give him more responsibility to even perform better.”

However, Alex Jakubiak’s season-long loan deal has ended early with the striker, who made just five appearances for the club and netted once in an EFL Trophy defeat at Carlisle, returning to Watford.