Why Connor Hall was allowed to leave Harrogate Town for Port Vale

Connor Hall scored six goals during his time with Harrogate Town, the most important of which came during the club's National League play-off final triumph over Notts County at Wembley. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

The 28-year-old centre-half has been one of the first names on the team-sheet and virtually ever-present since arriving at Wetherby Road in the summer of 2019, making 110 appearances for the Sulphurites.

But having played in 25 of the club's 30 competitive fixtures this term, Hall was given permission to speak to the Valiants on Monday after an undisclosed transfer fee was agreed between the two sides.

The imposing left-footed defender only signed a new three-and-a-half year contract with Town in January 2021, a deal which should have kept him in North Yorkshire until the conclusion of the 2023/24 campaign.

Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver has explained his decision to allow Connor Hall to leave Wetherby Road for a League Two rival.

However, Weaver felt that Hall's long commute to Harrogate's training base from his home in Cambridgeshire was starting to take its toll on the player and was thus prepared to make him available for transfer.

"Connor is a player who we rate really highly, that's why we brought him here from Brackley back in 2019," the Town boss told the Harrogate Advertiser.

"He's been a great servant but was making a five-hour round trip to get to training every day and I simply don't think that doing so was enabling him to maximise his talent.

"Travelling that far was too difficult for him, it would be too difficult for any member of staff, so we found ourselves at a cross-roads.

"There's been no fall-out. Connor understood where I was coming from and we've just had a conversation where both parties agreed that the best thing to do was for him to see what was out there.

"So, that's what we did and an approach was then made. We were able to reach an agreement with Port Vale and wish Connor well at his new club."

Town wasted no time in moving to fill the void in their back-line, announcing the capture of 36-year-old centre-half Leon Legge just half-an-hour after Hall's departure was confirmed on Tuesday evening.

The experienced former Brentford, Gillingham and Cambridge powerhouse comes in the opposite direction from Vale Park in what is a separate transfer deal.

As well filling Hall's spot in Weaver's squad, Legge also takes over his old shirt number having been handed the number 20 jersey.