Former Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient midfielder can be key recruit for Lewes

Lewes have added a bit of Football League know-how to their squad with the signing of Bradley Pritchard.
Bradley Pritchard celebrates scoring for Leyton Orient in 2015. Picture by Richard Sellers/EMPIC SportBradley Pritchard celebrates scoring for Leyton Orient in 2015. Picture by Richard Sellers/EMPIC Sport
Bradley Pritchard celebrates scoring for Leyton Orient in 2015. Picture by Richard Sellers/EMPIC Sport

The ex-Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient midfielder has joined the Rooks from manager Tony Russell’s former club Cray Wanderers.

The Zimbabwean made 67 appearances, scoring nine times, for the Wands after arriving from Greenwich Borough in 2018.

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Pritchard appeared 79 times, scoring three goals, for the Addicks after joining from Hayes & Yeading United in 2011.

The midfielder moved to Leyton Orient in 2014 and made 60 appearance, with one goal, before his departure to Greenwich in 2016.

Pritchard is a fully qualified lawyer and is also heavily involved in a number of community projects including being the founder of the social enterprise programme Groundwork.

The 35-year-old will work with Lewes on a number of community projects off the pitch.

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Lewes chairman Stuart Fuller said: “I’ve been a long-time admirer of Bradley on the pitch. He has an effortless control on games and will be a fantastic addition to our squad for next season.

“Off the pitch he is one of the most enthusiastic people I have met in the game and will be a real bonus for the club as we grow our work in the community.”

The Rooks will hope that Pritchard will pass his knowledge on to the club’s youngsters.

Fuller was full of praise for the Rooks’ youth set-up, who almost enjoyed unprecedented success in the curtailed 2019-20 campaign.

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The chairman now hopes to see the young guns stake a claim for a first team place in pre-season.

He added: “We’ve had an incredibly successful under-18s team over the past few seasons.

“They were certainly robbed of the double and maybe a treble in 2019-20.

“We didn’t really get going last year but we had the core of the same team.

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“Now we’ve got a group of fantastically talented youngsters who are now too old to play under-18 football.

“There’s some really decent players there so, while we’ve got 12 pre-season games, I think we will be bringing some of those players in so we can have a further look at them.”