Ian Burchnall explains Harry Arter's return to Nottingham Forest from Notts County

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."

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