Players staying at City because of boss - Kemp

6:00am Monday 5th January 2009

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WORCESTER City defender Tom Kemp says manager Richard Dryden is the chief reason why players haven’t left the club.

The current financial crisis at St George’s Lane has brought about wage cuts and forced Dryden to trim his squad.

Several players have asked to be placed on the transfer list and captain Craig Wilding has attracted interest from a number of clubs.

However, nobody has left the struggling Blue Square South outfit and Kemp puts that down to the manager’s influence.

The 21-year-old centre-half said: “I played under Richard Dryden at Tamworth and did really well.

“I think he’s a really good manager and he helps young players like myself move on and do well.

“All the lads respect him and a lot have been saying the main reason they are still here with everything that we’ve had going on is because of the manager and the coaching staff.”

Kemp has aspirations of playing at a higher level but believes he has found the right club to develop his fledgling career.

The former Grays player said: “I’ve been on trial at Hereford and I’m looking to do well and move on, but I think this place is going to help me progress.

“If you come here and do well then Worcester City are benefiting from it and you are benefiting from being in the shop window.”

Although the club has dropped to 13th in the league following two postponements in 48 hours, Kemp is confident City have what it takes to exist higher up the non-league pyramid.

He said: “Some teams are decent in Blue Square South and some aren’t, but you have just got to do the job.

“If you can get out of this league, which I think the club’s capable of doing with the manager and coaching staff and some of the players we have got, then you will see the difference in teams because I think there is a big difference. Worcester have got all the capabilities to go up.”

The visit of Maidenhead United on Saturday presents City with a chance to pit themselves against another of the promotion-chasing teams.

However, manager Dryden will be expecting better from his charges after they were humiliated 5-0 in the reverse fixture in October.

He said: “We were extremely disappointing against Maidenhead. From start to finish it was the most embarrassing game I have been manager for — we didn’t compete, we just folded.

“We weren’t great against Hayes and Yeading in August, but I thought they were a decent side and they’ve proved it because they are doing OK in the league.

“Maidenhead is a big game for us because we want to restore a bit of pride.”