Fleetwood Town may live to regret their 2020/21 dealings with Stockport County | OneFootball

All the players they released to the Hatters went on to do incredible things

The 2020/21 season saw persistent business between Fleetwood Town and Stockport County.

The former, then in League One, saw a trio of players head to Edgeley Park within the space of a year.

Although Stockport, then in the National League, had done well to convince each of the three to drop down the divisions, the Fishermen must, to some degree, have seen them as dispensable.

All of Macauley Southam-Hales, Ryan Rydel and Paddy Madden have gone on to become fan favourites for the Hatters, and, in hindsight, may leave Fleetwood wondering if they might have seen the trio leave too early.

Southam-Hales was the first to arrive

One of the first signings of the Mark Stott era, just months after he’d taken control of the club, the Hatters managed to sign Southam-Hales for an undisclosed fee from the Fishermen in September 2020, despite interest from Hartlepool United, where he’d been on loan the season previous.

In total, the Welshman made just five appearances for the club, totalling 167 minutes.

Fleetwood, perhaps feeling he wasn’t quite up to the standard, may have seen a cash offer too difficult to turn down, particularly if they weren’t to give him a proper shot at first-team action.

They would probably view this as a mistake later down the line, and it wouldn’t be the last instance that year.

Madden and Rydel arrived in quick succession

With the season nearing its conclusion, and the transfer window operating differently in the National League, the Hatters went back to Highbury Stadium for more.

First, in March 2021, the Hatters poached Madden.

He had already notched seven for the Fishermen that season, having hit double figures the two seasons before, and the club were not looking to sell, but felt they couldn’t turn down County’s proposal, thought to be in the region of £250k.

That was to be followed around a month later by the sale to the Hatters of youth product Ryan Rydel, again for an undisclosed fee, with local media at the time reckoning the club was gearing up for promotion, and neither of the late sales were part of the plans moving forward.

All three had an incredible impact at Edgeley Park

Fleetwood will wonder whether it could have been them

That would prove to be a mistake by Fleetwood. There was plenty of life left in Madden, who spearheaded the club through two promotions, scoring 64 goals in 154 appearances, before departing after sealing the League Two title in 2024.

Both Southam-Hales and Rydel remained at Edgeley Park beyond that — having played their own important roles to that point — and were still very much part of manager Dave Challinor’s plans in the third tier, where they had left Fleetwood behind.

What will rub salt in the wound for Fleetwood fans is at the precise moment their three former players were celebrating promotion back to League One, the Fishermen were heading in the other direction, relegated to the fourth tier.

In hindsight, given what the trio went on to achieve, and the players that Southam-Hales and Rydel grew into, Fleetwood will feel they got the raw end of the deal in their 2020/21 business with County.