Signing a deal for the new season is Nortei Nortey.

Nortei who turns 26 later this month came through the youth system at Chelsea and has played for Wrexham, Solihull Moors, Welling and Dover as well as his last club Chorley.

His parents are both from Ghana, but Nortei was born and raised in London and although he is British he is very proud of his roots and choose to represent his parents homeland, which led to a call up for their under 20 side when he was 17.

Starting his football life at Chelsea was special for Nortei “I was playing locally and I was one of the lucky ones to get picked up.  I joined the academy when I was 14 and spent a good five years there, which was an unbelievable experience and it will stick with me wherever I go.  It taught me a lot, I experienced a lot and I grew up a lot too.  There was a lot of ups and downs happened, there were some great times, some lows and I had a few injuries but it was a great experience and I took a lot from it”.

During his time at Stamford Bridge he won the FA Youth Cup and gained a lot of praise being described as loyal, determined and tenacious “I would agree with all that, I would say I am pretty loyal and determination is definitely one thing that I have, I have that attitude that I keep going even if things aren’t going so well, I just keep going until I get what you need”.

Although he finds it difficult to speak about himself, he would also describe himself as energetic and someone who likes to get on the ball and link up well but most importantly someone who enjoys playing football.

At the Blues he was a team-mate of Queens recent signing Ayo Obileye, a player he speaks highly of “Ayo came in when I was there and that’s how we met, we’ve been in contact since.  He is part of the reason I’ve joined Queens.  He is a good man, there are very few great people in football but I think he is one of them.  So it’s not all new to me, I’ve known him for ten plus years now and he is a good guy.  All the lads are sound, all good”.

A serious injury in 2011 hampered Norts career “I had a bad knee injury when I was 16 and that went on for another two seasons so I missed a lot of football in that time which was unfortunately but that is all part of the learning and different things. I missed out on a lot and it affected me a fair bit but these things happen in football so I couldn’t be too down.  Mentally it made me a lot stronger so there aren’t too many things that get me down in football”.

As well as dealing with an injury that almost ended his career and trying to establish himself as a professional football, Nortei and his family have also had to deal with some real personal tragedy.

“I lost both my Brother and Sister.  I feel that going through that humbled me, very much so, when you are down about things you realise that you are grateful and blessed.  So when you feel you are going to moan or complain about something, you snap yourself out of it as you just think there is more to life than football.  Although I do love it so much there is more to life than this game but the passing of my siblings has humbled me massively”.

“I’ve gained strength from it so feel ok to talk about it and my brother, Leon was a big inspiration to me, he was my older brother so he was always someone I wanted to act like him and be like when I was younger. He is probably one of the reasons I play too, because when he played I always wanted to copy him so I’d probably put it down to him, he was always the one that was pushing me, messaging me, calling me before games and stuff so yeah – he has missed a big amount but I play for him and play for my sister”.

For the past five years the 25 year old has been playing at the lower levels in England, during which time his ambition to get back playing led to a very generous gesture “I’ve been playing at National League level and it’s been mainly good.  I didn’t play for a long time so I just needed to play, and I was offered an opportunity at Welling, but they didn’t have a budget so I offered to play for nothing, just because I wanted to play. If I hadn’t joined them that season I think it would’ve been very difficult for me to play at a decent level so it was important for me to do that”.

Manager, Allan Johnston has brought Nortei to the club mainly as a right back and although his preferred position is in midfield, the Londoner is happy to take on the role “I’m comfortable in a few positions but the Gaffer wants me to play right back and I’m happy to play there.  He is aware that I can play in other positions too, but I just want to get on the pitch and I will be happy to play anywhere.  I’m pretty versatile and have played in most positions in the past few years”.

Happy to make the move to Dumfries, he is full of enthusiasm and looking forward to the challenge “I’m still looking to improve my game as well as helping the team so I will be looking to do better with stats over the course of the season so it would be nice to chip in with assists and goals.  My aim this season is to be involved in as many games as possible, starting as many times as possible and to put numbers on the board, with goals and assists.  I also want the team to have a good run in the cup and to finish in a good position in the table so that it’s all good things for us come the end of the season”.