THE PLAYER Andrew Fitton was most taken by was not Charlie Austin, but the former Hungerford man’s predecessor as the darling of the County Ground, Simon Cox.

When West Brom came in with a £1.5 million bid for the free-scoring striker Fitton admits he would have loved to have turned them down, but he had to stick to his model.

Cox was not actively seeking a move, despite the interest being shown in him from further up the football pyramid.

“It broke my heart to sell Simon Cox,” reveals Fitton.

“If there was one player I would have loved to have kept, it would have been him more than Charlie, because he was just such a great influence around the club.

“Cox had to go because of financial need, although he said he was happy to stay, he would have stayed for another season if we asked him to.

“I agreed a deal with him from America. He rang me from holiday to ask me what was happening and I assured him that if anything happened I would let him know.

“I said to him ‘I promised you when you came here that I would never stand in your way and he said ‘that’s not what you told me chairman, you said you would help me make the decision.’ “I would still rather we have kept him but we couldn’t afford him, given that we were trying to balance the books.

“There were a few people who wanted him. I know where he should have gone, but they wouldn’t put an offer in for him, he should have gone to Celtic.

“He would have been a hero in Glasgow and would have scored a hat full of goals against Scottish defences and then probably rooted himself back into the Premiership.”