Former Colchester United defender Tom Eastman turns down move to Harrogate Town

The 31-year-old centre-half excelled while on loan from Colchester United last season and looked set to return to Wetherby Road on a permanent deal.

A free agent following his release by the Sulphurites’ League Two rivals, Eastman was one of Simon Weaver’s priority close-season targets and agreed contractual terms with the club last month.

The Town boss revealed to the Harrogate Advertiser in May that the former Ipswich defender was in the process of trying to find a suitable home in Yorkshire and was exploring schooling options for his children.

But Eastman has subsequently come to the decision that uprooting his family from their home in Essex is not a viable option.

“The situation was looking very promising,” Weaver explained. “I think there was a lot of elation after we stayed up and Tom was happy that he had been playing and pleased with his performances while he was here.

"His family came up, they liked the place and they were willing to sacrifice going on holiday this year to spend that time looking for a home and for schools in the area.

“They did look at a couple of properties in Wetherby and I tried to help, tried to allay any fears about schools. I spoke to Tom’s wife and, as I have a friend who is a headteacher in the Wetherby area, I was able to pass on some information about Ofsted reports, suitable schools where there were spaces available.

“They were at the stage of looking at schools, but in the end, Tom said that with having young kids who wanted to stay at home where they have roots, it had to be a ‘no’.

"It wasn’t about us not making him a good enough offer. We did everything we could to try and bring him to the club. Tom himself admitted that we couldn’t have done any more.”

Having been so hopeful of being able to get a deal over the line, Weaver admits that he was “disappointed” to end up missing out on Eastman’s signature, but insists that he understands the player’s decision and is confident that new signing Rod McDonald will do just as good a job at the heart of his back-line.

"It was a blow at the time because we rate Tom very highly and there aren’t too many central defenders with that much League One and League Two experience under their belts who are available,” the Harrogate boss added.

"But I completely understand Tom’s decision. If your family ends up being unhappy then it can make things very difficult.

"Right now, he’s at home every day with his family and he’s enjoying that. If he signed for us but the family didn’t relocate up here then he would be missing out on that, on being there with them, and that can be problematic for players.

"So, as I say, I completely understand his decision. It was disappointing to miss out on him, but I felt like we recovered the situation well by moving quickly to sign Rod, who is another really good centre-half with a similar level of Football League experience.”

Eastman made 21 appearances on loan at Harrogate during the 2022/23 campaign having joined towards the end of the January transfer window.

And although they have missed out on landing him on a permanent deal they have already completed moves for attacking midfielder Matty Daly and the defensive trio of McDonald, Matty Foulds and Liam Gibson.