Former Wigan Athletic and Tottenham Hotspur defender Pascal Chimbonda bade farewell to Ashton Town on Saturday, after playing in his final game of a four match stint with the club in the 4-1 win over Daisy Hill.
Pascal responded to a call from Town Chairman Mark Hayes to come and play for a month, and Mark said everyone at the club was delighted with the way the move has worked out.
"What an adventure, it's been. We've been honoured and privileged to have had Pascal at the club", said Mark.
"Four games later and we have hit every headline going. The Premier League are also going to be doing a feature on Pascal which of course now covers Ashton Town and the North West Counties League, and will include him telling the story about why he has been playing for Ashton Town.
"It's a feature that will be distributed to over 180 countries worldwide. It was due to happen last week, but they are now going to be picking up the story next week.
"What people also don't see too is him travelling down from Newcastle, leaving at 9.30am for every game and paying for his travel out of his own pocket.
"The time spent with him, for me, the lads, and all at the club has been absolutely priceless.
"We are now looking forward to seeing him again at the end of May, when he will once again come and play for the Wigan Athletic legends team in our fund raising game for the Joseph's Goal charity".
Pascal, who was on the bench for France in the 2006 World Cup Final against Italy in Berlin, clearly enjoyed his time at Town, and tweeted after the game:
Thanks to the Chairman @northernpromise , Manager, Players and everyone at @ashtontownafc Been good to pull on my boots again. You have a great team. See you all May 25th for @josephsgoal legends game. pic.twitter.com/wz7Ii7hOHg
— chimbonda pascal (@pascalchimbond1) March 2, 2019
