Ian Burchnall has explained why Notts County were unable to keep Harry Arter until their season finished as he thanked the Nottingham Forest midfielder for his "work".
Arter returned to the City Ground in midweek despite the fact Notts are closing in on the National League play-offs for a third consecutive season. But Burchnall explained that Arter was unable to remain at the club due to "some things" that were going on personally behind the scenes.
And Notts' head coach said that was the reason why the Magpies have had to say goodbye to the former Bournemouth midfielder who slotted in seamlessly following his move from the City Ground in March.
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"When we got the option with Harry, we knew he had some things on personally behind the scenes and there was no way he could do beyond this day," he said.
"We had a discussion, I think after the Stockport game. The squad had a difficult period. We missed a lot of players through injury. We felt like the place was a little flat and that we needed a lift.
"Signing somebody like Harry, we knew we would only have the option of having him up to this day. We figured having him, giving us a lift and giving us the best possible chance of the play-offs and high as we can in the league would be better than not having him at all.
"We and Forest didn't want to make that public straight away. We just said it was May which it is. Now he's gone. We thank him for his work. He's been around for some important games especially the first three when he came in. He contributed a lot in those games and he's helped us achieve where we are."
Arter's return to the Reds means that Frank Vincent and Ed Francis are likely to be challenging to be his replacement as Notts prepare for their penultimate game of the season. They face Altrincham at Meadow Lane at the weekend knowing a point will secure them a top-seven finish for the third successive season and will give them another chance of returning to the Football League.
Notts would need to finish fourth or fifth to guarantee a home quarter-final but Burchnall insists just finishing in the top seven should be the priority.
"The key is to be in the play-offs," he said. "We are not 100 per cent there yet, but we are very, very close now. We still need one point to guarantee it. The possibility of a home tie in the quarter-final is still there. We just have to be as good as we can be against Altrincham to achieve a result and then we put it in our own hands.
"That's all we can do. After that, we focus on Maidenhead and if we do a good job in these two games we will be well placed. The draw is then going to fall how it's going to fall. Ultimately if you want to get out of this league you are going to have to play in some big games."
