Helston Athletic have completed the biggest local transfer deal of the summer so far, with four players joining the club from South West Peninsula League rivals St Austell.

Liam Eddy, Mark Goldsworthy, Neil Slateford and Olly Brokenshire, all of whom played under Blues manager Steve Massey in his third spell as Truro City boss from 2012 to 2014, have all made the switch from Poltair Park to Kellaway Park for the upcoming SWPL Premier West season.

Massey said: “It had been rumoured for a few weeks now but it was always nice to get them, particularly to get them in early as well. It’s a nice feeling, and particularly the quality of the players really bodes well for next season.

“The conversations I had with them were really positive and that was the big thing that made me think that they’re really keen.

“They’ve all played under me before at Truro City and it inspired me really to think, ‘wow, what a statement this will be’. The guys are really up for it and particularly since the signings have been announced the enthusiasm is coming from all of them to go out there and make it work now and go and win some honours.”

Liam Eddy and Mark Goldsworthy are both making the move back to Kellaway Park, having played a part in Helston’s rise up to the SWPL Premier in their previous spell a few years ago.

Both players were also key figures in the Blues’ run to the Cornwall Senior Cup final in 2013, with Eddy scoring twice as Helston lost 4-3 after extra-time to Bodmin Town.

Massey said of Eddy: “He’s always in the Helston clubhouse, in fact I always joke that he’s probably won as much meat as anybody else that I can remember in the Sunday meat draw!

“We’d always have a chat because I have got huge respect for him, not just because of his ability and that he can score goals, I saw that years ago with Truro City.”

Goldsworthy was named SWPL Division 1 West top scorer in each of Helston’s four seasons in the division between 2012 and 2015, scoring 176 goals in all. He scored a remarkable 52 goals during Helston’s title-winning campaign in 2014/15, a league record that remains to this day.

“[Last season] we created a lot of chances but we were just unable to score goals at the right moments and important goals, and Eddy and Goldsworthy are going to give us that,” Massey said.

“I always hoped in the back of my mind that, ‘what if I got to pair those two again’. The excitement that it fills me with to be pairing those two, you only have to look at the leading goal scorers in the league over the last few seasons to know that’s going to give us a hell of a chance.”

Experienced winger Neil Slateford joins Eddy and Goldsworthy at Helston after finishing last season as caretaker manager of St Austell.

Slateford took charge for the Lillywhites’ final six games of the season after Damon Mulready stepped down from the role after ten months at the helm at Poltair Park.

Massey said: “I saw the ambition in there that he went into management and that was a big factor for me, in that there’s a guy that knows what it’s about, particularly in the last half a dozen games of the season that he was in charge.

"He knows what it’s like from looking at the team and how you go about preparing for games and leading up to match day from a manager’s point of view, so that was important, that experience that he is going to bring me.”

Completing the quartet is central midfielder Olly Brokenshire, with Massey hoping that his new man can replicate the quality he showed when the pair were together at Treyew Road.

Massey said: “He’d score double figure-plus goals a season with his head, and the confidence that he would ooze and the charisma that he would give off on the pitch and his personality, and I think that he’s just maybe lost his way a little bit, but I certainly still see that talent in there.

“I think he’s really fired up and I think we’re going to see the Olly Brokenshire of when he first broke into the Cornish football scene and I’m really excited.

“Certainly Brokey and Slates have this lovely knack of being able to connect with the young players, and that was a big factor to me that they fitted into that remit.”

Massey maintained that the club’s drive to develop local young players still remains and that these four additions will help that process and not hinder it.

“It’s not just a case of, ‘I’ll bring these four in because I know these lads, these are old mates of mine’, he said. “It was always the strategy to keep the club going forward with the main aim that it is the youngsters we’ve got here that are going to take us to bigger and better things.

“But it just needed for this particular season, to go and put ourselves in a position to challenge, I needed that experience. I needed the guys that have been there and done it, and certainly these four in particular bring it.”

Massey also refuted claims from some people on social media that the quartet would be receiving large sums of money to play for the club next season.

“Believe me, I’m not spending copious amounts of money at all,” he said. “I like my position that I have got myself into through a lot of hard work, and I’m certainly not going to just throw it away on footballers.”

Massey confirmed that he is in talks with two more players to add to his squad ahead of the 2019/20 season.