9:00am Wednesday 17th March 2010
TAKING the Worcester City job on a permanent basis will not detract from my main task of steering the club clear of relegation.
It’s great that the board of directors have placed their faith in me as the manager beyond the end of this campaign.
It allows me to speak with those of the current crop of players I want in my plans for next season and get them tied down to deals.
I can also keep an eye on potential new players, but the main focus is still short-term and retaining our status in Blue Square South. That’s my main aim and I don’t want to take the focus off that.
It’s good I can now look forward to next season, but I want to be a manager at this level of football. I don’t want to manage lower than this and there’s no reason why, if we do things correctly, we shouldn’t stay in this division.
At stages in my career it did cross my mind about managing Worcester one day so I am honoured and proud that, having played for them and been captain, I am now permanently in charge. It’s something I have aspired to.
I have spoken to the chairman and the board and said the first thing we need to do is retain our status. Then we can talk about how we are going to improve things so we don’t find ourselves in a position like this again.
We haven’t discussed contracts, that’s not top of my priorities. I want to be at the club because I feel I have got qualities that can help.
I have never been involved in football for financial gain — that might sound quite strange but that’s never been my agenda and won’t change now. I want to do the job because I feel I can bring an element of success to it.
I have made changes to the squad and have brought in Tom Beahon and Ryan Burge from the Glenn Hoddle Academy, which is based in Spain.
The link has come about through George Foster, a good friend of mine who works for Glenn. He looks after recruitment and offers trials to players released by professional clubs.
If they are successful they will get a scholarship and are contracted to the academy so if a club wants to buy them they can claim compensation.
The agreement helps us out and allows the players to get games. It’s ideal when we are short of numbers and are looking to bring players in that are not a huge drain on resources.
Both will return to the academy in the summer unless they get a professional contract.
I am not hopeful we will have Tom back because of his job but we should keep Ryan until the end of the season.
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