Stanley Aborah: The Interview

Notts County midfielder Stanley Aborah has given an interview to BBC Radio Nottingham admitting that he did ask to leave Notts County, but only after he felt frozen out of the squad by current manager Jamie Fullarton.

The Magpies boss said the club had received correspondence from the midfielder's agent which confirmed he no longer wanted to stay at Meadow Lane because he had signed for previous manager Ricardo Moniz.

Aborah has hit back at Fullarton's suggestion that he 'didn't want to play for the club' and explained his reasons for asking to leave.

The Belgian said: "To me it's not a difficult situation. He came in. I was dropped. Therefore I asked him if he wanted me to leave. I said I don't have to leave but if I could find a club it's fine by him.

"That's where we stood but I told him that as long as I was here I would do what he wanted me to do; fight hard for the club and do my best as I have done the previous months.

"I asked him to leave because I felt I wasn't going to play. It has to be made clear; I didn't ask to leave because I wanted to leave.

"I asked to leave because I knew from his actions the weeks before not being selected on the bench, not playing, he wasn't going to pick me.

"It was strange. I fought hard to get a contract when I came in on trial. I did my best to be selected by the manager Ricardo, to do my best for the club.

"Imagine my shock when I wasn't selected for the first three games (under Fullarton).

"We spoke after a couple of games. I spoke with him and said, you're the manager, do what you have to do, but I want to play.

"I can see I'm not going to play. Can I go somewhere else and play?"

Aborah added that, although he had a good understanding with Moniz, he did not want to leave the club specifically after the Dutchman was sacked.

"I came to Notts County to play for myself, not for Ricardo Moniz. I came here through Ricardo Moniz, that's all there is to it.

"I have a very good understanding with Ricardo. If he goes to another club and there is the opportunity to go there then maybe I would take it.

"If he goes to a club that isn't good for me I wouldn't go. Why would I put my livelihood at stake for one manager who gets sacked? It doesn't make sense."

Aborah also hinted that Fullarton was a liar because of the reasons given to the media for the player’s absence.

"The question gets asked to him after a game he doesn't say this. First he said he makes informed decisions or something like that.

"Then he said I'm not available. That wasn't true. He said I was ill, for the York game. That's it. I was thrown under the bus yesterday. I was shocked."

Aborah says he spoke to Fullarton on Monday prior to last night's goalless draw with Dagenham & Redbridge.

He said: "It wasn't a good conversation. I don't want to do this through the media. I don't think it's right. I want to say basically it's a conversation to end my contract.

"I want to play football. I want to play for Notts County. That's been taken away from me. If you can't get a chance here you go somewhere else where you can.

"I want to play and do well. Maybe I can improve and get the chance to go to a higher level. That will benefit the club. The way I was playing for six months there was a chance to do that.

"I think there are two sides to a story. Probably I could have done some things better.

"I don't know what I have done to be in this situation. The manager got sacked, I was played against Oxford.

"The new manager got appointed and I was out of the team. What's my fault in this?"

In response, Notts issued a statement which read: "In a meeting between Jamie Fullarton and Stanley Aborah shortly after the manager had been appointed, Stanley expressed his desire to leave Notts County Football Club.

"This was followed up by email correspondence to the club from Stanley's representative on 20th January which confirmed Stanley's desire to leave the football club.

"It was the hope of the club & the manager that Stanley's position on this would change and he would be committed to contributing to the team. However, in a further meeting on 29th February Stanley again expressed his desire to leave the football club.

"The club will be making no further comment."

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