Charlie Griffin looking forward to spending more time with his family

FORMER Boro striker Charlie Griffin says he is looking forward to spending more time with his young family after moving to Forest Green Rovers this week.

The 31-year-old signed for Rovers for the third time in his career after it was mutually agreed by both him and Stevenage not to trigger the extra season clause in his Boro contract after he returned from a loan spell at Newport County.

Griffin had spent the second half of the season at Newport alongside fellow Boro striker Yemi Odubade but any hopes of a permanent deal with the south Wales club were scuppered by a change in management in April.

Instead he signed for fellow Blue Square Premier side Rovers who are based close to his home in the south west.

Speaking to The Comet Griffin said that cutting two hours out of his daily commute next season will allow him to spend quality time with his loved ones, and he added that he had nothing but good memories from his time with Stevenage.

“I went out to Newport on loan from January onwards and at Stevenage my contract was coming up at the end of the season and although there was an option there it wasn’t going to be taken up,” Griffin told The Comet.

“I then spoke to Forest Green and things progressed and I have signed for them.

“At one stage they (Newport) wanted to do something, and then the new manager came in and wanted to go his own way and wanted to bring in some different people, but that’s football and I’m really happy with Forest Green and hope to have success here.

“You know it’s not easy when your family is two-and-a-half to three hours away. You might think it’s easy, but it’s not. You’re off to training, you’ve got away games, and it’s hard when you’ve got a young daughter.

“Now I’m just 25 minutes from the ground, 25 minutes from training so I’ll be able to see a lot more of them.

“I had some fantastic times at Stevenage. I won the league, I’ve been to an FA Trophy final, it was all fine and I left on good terms.

“They’ve got some very good fans and they were always behind me and I have nothing but high thoughts of them. I’d like to thank the club and the fans for a fantastic couple of years.

“I scored 15-16 goals in the first season, and I was probably 10-14 short of what I should have got but I missed a few games through injury, and other things. But I really enjoyed my time at the club and wish them all the best.

“They’ll do well this season and you never know, they might even push towards a place in the Championship. I’ll try to get down and watch a couple of their games, and maybe we’ll get them in the FA Cup too.”