YORK City Knights player-boss Chris Thorman reckons the ex-Knights brigade in Gateshead’s ranks do not have anything to prove on their return to Huntington Stadium tomorrow – not least because he had wanted them to stay.

Props Brett Waller and Matty Barron and scrum-half Scott Woods signed for the Thunder in the off-season, following hooker Paul Stamp and centre Mike Mitchell, who made loan moves permanent, to Tyneside.

Not all will be involved in tomorrow’s Northern Rail Cup tie (3pm) – former Knights crowd favourite Stamp has an ankle injury and Woods, the son of former Gateshead and York boss Dave Woods, who is now living back in the North East, is not in the first-team frame at present. But Thorman says none should feel the need to prove a point.

He explained: “I wanted Paul to come back but he had decided to go to Gateshead and he’s a man of his word. Mike Mitchell decided to leave the club and Brett Waller could have been at the club as well.

“What do they have to prove? We wanted them at the club but they decided not to stay.

“They’re all great lads and we wish them all well this season.”

Stamp was a regular in the York side in 2010 but played only three times for the first team under Woods last term before demanding a loan move. Thorman said he was probably hard done to. “I enjoyed working with him and he’s certainly got some talent,” he said.

As for Barron, who was restricted by injuries to just five substitute appearances for the Knights last term, Thorman said: “We didn’t really see him. His job also means it’s easier for him to play for Gateshead.”

There could have been another ex-Knight in the visitors’ ranks but Danny Wilson, who returned on loan to former club Gateshead last year, had to leave the club due to work commitments in his home town of Hull.

• One-time Knights loanee Luke Ambler has joined Championshop big-guns Halifax on a month’s loan from Leeds. The prop played under Fax boss Karl Harrison at Salford and is almost certain to figure in tomorrow’s clash with Featherstone.