Boreham Wood are delighted to announce that we have further strengthened our defensive ranks, with the acquisition of former Gateshead centre-back Jamal Fyfield.
Fyfield, who made over 70 appearances for Gateshead over the last two seasons, joins the Wood as Luke Garrard starts to shape his squad in preparation for the 2018/19 campaign.
Standing at 6ft 1in, Fyfield began his career with Leyton Orient, before departing to join Maidenhead United, where he was named as their Young Player of the Year in 2009.
His form for the Magpies led to a move to York City, where he helped the club into League Two, making 40 appearances and scoring three times. He would go on to make a further 30 appearances for The Minstermen, who were by then a Football League club.
Fyfield can also count Grimsby Town and Wrexham, amongst his former clubs at National League level.
A versatile defender, who can also play at left-back, the 29-year-old has well over 300 Non-League and 42 league appearances to his name. And Luke Garrard will be hoping that he can bring further experience to an already strong defence.
“I am over the moon to be honest,” Fyfield explained. “I have seen the progress that the club have made in recent years. It is a club who are going in the right direction, with a young manager and young management team, who are obviously getting the best out of their players and I am happy to be a part of it.
“I have spoken to a lot of people who have been at the club, or know of the club, and know of the management staff and the Chairman, and everything that I heard was positive.
“Also, the infrastructure and the professionalism of the club, and listening to Luke and what he wants to achieve, it is just the right kind of place for myself.
“I think that I can bring experience. I have obviously played in this league and I have been promoted from this league and I have also won the FA Trophy, so I think that my experience is the number one thing.
“I base my game on calmness in certain situations, so hopefully I can be a calming influence when it is needed during games.
“I know how to manage games as well, and being one of the older players now, I am hoping to be able to guide some of the younger players in the squad and push them to be the best that they can be.”
On the signing, Garrard commented: “Jamal is a player who I have long admired, and I have seen plenty of his abilities, during his spells with the likes of Wrexham and Gateshead.
“He is a very experienced centre-half at this level – a natural left-footer – and that will give us a nice balance down that left-hand side.
“Jamal is a powerful defender and he is very strong aerially, but his experience was a massive plus to me. He is very vocal as well when it comes to organising the team on the pitch, so I am very happy.
“I think in our set up Jamal would be considered one of the top defenders at our level. You only have to look at what he done with Wrexham in the play-offs and what he has done at Gateshead – helping them to go as far as they did in the FA Trophy.
“It was also important for me to bring in players with a knowledge of our system, and the back three is a shape that Gateshead played last season, so it isn’t foreign to him.
“I think that he brings as much on-the-field as he does off-the-field and that is something that I am very conscious of when bringing anyone in.”
