It`s been a mixed week so far for Vanarama National League North club Brackley Town.

After the boost of signing striker Dan Holman from new league rivals Kettering Town, the Saints received the devastating news that, at around 3am this morning, a fire broke out at the club and the main clubhouse building has been destroyed.

Chairman Francis Oliver said: “Obviously this is a very traumatic time for everyone at the club and all involved. We do believe that the football side of the business will be able to operate without too much upheaval as we hope the changing room block has not been affected. Also, we believe that the new build has not been damaged, and this could be up and running within six to eight weeks.

“We will make a further statement once we have been able to gain access to the site to assess the situation and the issues we will be dealing with.”

Holman, who recently celebrated his 29th birthday, has scored over 150 goals in his career which has predominantly been in League Two and the National League.

He joins Brackley after a brief stint with Northamptonshire rivals Kettering where he scored 15 goals in 25 appearances after leaving Aldershot Town mid-season.

Holman began his career at Cogenhoe United, Oxford City and Long Buckby before a move to then-Conference North side Histon in 2011, where he scored 28 goals in 44 games.

He then joined Braintree Town on the Conference National and his record of 25 goals in 77 games earned him a move to the EFL with Colchester United. He made 5 appearances for Colchester before spending time out on loan at Wrexham, Aldershot, Dover Athletic and Woking, before he settled at Cheltenham Town in 2016.

Again, he impressed scoring 16 goals in 18 games to help the Robins gain promotion. But injury hampered his time at Cheltenham in the Football League, loan spells followed at Boreham Wood and Leyton Orient before a move to Aldershot Town in August 2018.

He was on the bench for the Shots against Kettering in the FA Cup in November 2018, and two weeks later joined the Poppies.

Brackley manager Kevin Wilkin told https://www.brackleytownfc.com: “When I found out Dan was available, I made it my priority to bring him in. This is a player who has scored goals wherever he has been, for instance at Cheltenham Town only three seasons ago he scored the goals that got them promoted to the Football League winning the `golden boot` in the same season. I am really pleased to get our first new signing of the season done”.