COLUMN: Pair at the end and the start of respective careers should be kept at Proact

Ian Evatt and Laurence Maguire represent the past and the future respectively, but both deserve a place in Gary Caldwell’s plans for next season.

Evatt has proven during this campaign that he still has it in him to play regular football at a decent level, while maintaining more consistent performance levels than many of his team-mates.

His absence through injury has been costly and the lack of leadership when he’s not on the pitch is so very evident.

Evatt’s desire to win and his intolerance for slackness make him an ideal club captain and there’s no doubt he can more than ‘do a job’ in League Two next season .

While Evatt at 35 is in the twilight of his career, 20-year-old Maguire’s is just beginning.

He’s perhaps more of a footballing central defender than his captain and no one will want to dull his instinct to get on the ball and play.

But the youngster also has real aerial ability and can learn so much from Evatt about what it takes to be physically dominant.

And since returning from a loan spell at AFC Fylde that appeared to benefit all parties, he hasn’t disgraced himself at all in first team appearances.

If the money is right – in what we all know will be reduced budget – there can surely be few reasons why both men can’t join Sam Hird and Paul McGinn in next season’s defensive corp at the Proact.