After an eventful summer, everyone connected at the club knew it would not be plain sailing from the point we parted ways with the previous management. A lot of questions raised but after many conversations, the club and the board had to make the tough decision in order to protect and secure the clubs future. As many other clubs know, ultimately the football is a business first, and football second as without the business structure, there would be no football.
The main outlined brief was simply, to stay in the league, and compete, whilst the club restructured behind the scenes to ensure that we would compete for promotion as soon as possible!
After several discussions with the board, a decision was made to welcome back Wayne Smith who had previously had a role within the club, Unfortunately, after a lot of work re-building pre-season and after the first few games, Wayne decided to step down and part ways with the club. The club would like to thank him and his staff for steadying the ship and his efforts whilst briefly managing Shaftesbury in his second spell.
Following this and dealing with another setback, the club had a meeting with a young and ambitious Luke Middlewick who came with a very good CV. Luke was fantastic during his time in management and we are in no doubt that Luke will have a very good career in football. After a short spell at managing the club, we decided to go in a different way and there was no point wasting either party’s time, so had no choice but to part ways.
Following this decision the Directors and I turned to James Milligan and Luke Burbidge to take over the club as joint managers, Sam Lanahan as assistant, Ian Hansford and Matt Maybury as goalkeeper coaches and Carl Young as the club physio. Both managers having different experiences in both football and life, this is a pair that we look to, to really succeed. Short term goal was simple, stay in the league and get to the Summer so the club and management can start re-building ready for the 2023-2024 season.
I would like to personally thank all the supporters for their patience and faith in the directors at the club they have had in this troubled season, and would like to thank the volunteers and staff for all their hard work ensuring that we improve our standard every week and provide football for the town.
A thanks to the players that played for the club and got enough points to ensure safety, and a massive thank you to the sponsors and club partners who continuously allow us to be able to compete at the level the club does. Without your support the club wouldn’t be here!
The planning for next season begins next week for the board of directors and the playing management. We are all glad to be putting an end to this season, and are now working hard to improve the squad ready for what will be an exciting, challenging, but beneficial pre-season. Schedule set to be announced soon!, as well as a number of players announcements.
Onwards and upwards,
Up the Rockies ❤️