PAUL Maitland revealed that the Terras “have had to make some tough decisions” after allowing midfielder Billy Lowes to leave the club.
The former Poole Town man announced his exit from the Bob Lucas Stadium via social media on Monday. Maitland claimed the club did make him an offer to stay with Weymouth, but on “reduced terms”.
Explaining the situation, the Terras’ assistant-manager told Echosport: “Speaking on behalf of myself, having a conversation with Bill has been the hardest one of all the conversations with the players so far, because I think an awful lot of him, not just as a player but as a person.”
He added: “We did make Bill an offer, it was on reduced terms. He’s basically decided not to take it.
“We couldn’t promise him any more game time than he had last year and, on reduced terms as well, we put the ball in his court to make a decision.
“We felt we needed to shake the squad up and, unfortunately, we have had to make some tough decisions.
“That’s not to say that we don’t think a lot of Billy. It was a big decision for us to have to take so early on but it was one that we felt was right for the club, to do what we want to do going forward.
“He is highly thought of and we will be sorry to see him go. Having performed reasonably well over the last two seasons I can understand why he wouldn’t want to sign on reduced terms.”
Maitland added: “Bill has a lot of time on his side to forge himself a really good career and I’ve no doubt that he will, but I think he needs to almost reinvigorate himself a little bit.
“We wish him all the best and the door isn’t shut for him. We have made that quite clear.
“If he decided that he wants to come back and we are in a position to take him, we would take him back. It’s been left on good terms.”
