Southern Thompson confident Yate will be heading in the right direction this season
RICHARD Thompson says he feels “excited and motivated” by the fresh challenges posed for his Yate Town hopefuls.
Yate enter the starting blocks with a new manager, Paul Michael, at the rudder after being snapped up from Cinderford Town over the summer after former incumbent Paul Britton, who led Yate to promotion in spring 2019, resigned.
Former long-serving Bluebells player and boss Thompson found himself back on familiar Lodge Road territory, too, over an extended close-season, as director of football.
Yate get their Southern League Premier South programme underway tomorrow with a “tricky start” in Surrey’s East Molesey against Metropolitan Police, as an upbeat yet “realistic” ‘Thommo’ emphasised: “Everything is new and we know we’re not going to be winning any leagues this year.
“But our new manager Paul knows which direction he is going in and we’re looking stronger than I maybe thought we would be at this early stage and that’s credit to him.
“He brought about six players from Cinderford with him, kept a similar number of Yate lads from last year and pulled in five or six newcomers from elsewhere, which means he has some real decisions to make.”
Thompson and Co have been delighted by the eye-catching summer capture of 34-year-old Gloucester-born Stuart Fleetwood.
“Stuart has joined us as playercoach but most importantly it’s about what he does on the pitch,” said Thompson.
“He’s played for a stack of clubs at a higher level – Cardiff, Luton, Hereford, Cheltenham and Forest Green among them – and even last season he was banging in 18 or 19 goals for Swindon Supermarine.
“Stuart is a personal trainer by trade so his fitness levels should be good and I’m expecting him to be a good role model for our youngsters.”
Yate swiftly follow up tomorrow’s Met encounter with a mouthwatering FA Cup first qualifying round tie at home against local rivals Bristol Manor Farm on Tuesday night.
Of their campaign prospects, Thomson stressed: “Our budget is not one of the bigger ones in the league and staying in the Prem is clearly of paramount importance.
“If we could push towards midtable status it would be fantastic, although the manager is under no pressure from me there.
“Positive things are happening off the field, including the appointment of Mark Thorne, someone I have known since our school days, as our commercial director, which should lay strong foundations going forward.
“What excites and motivates me most is everything feels fresh and we’ll be giving it everything to finish as high up the table as possible.”
Bristol Manor Farm, buoyed by last weekend’s 5-1 away drubbing of Cadbury Heath at the FA Cup preliminary round, set their Southern League Division One South journey underway tomorrow against Cirencester Town at The Creek, while Mangotsfield United, luckless 2-1 losers in their own tie at Tavistock, host 2019-20 promotion-chasers Frome Town for a testing opener.
Paulton Rovers also face a challenging start tomorrow, at Berkshire-based Thatcham Town, who jointly led the standings with Frome when Covid-19 triggered football lockdown in March.
John Rendell, entering his fourth season in charge at Winterfield Road, admitted his summer plans had been rocked by a raft of significant player departures.
“Over the first three weeks after the season had ended I was getting calls from lads saying they were moving on and it was bitterly disappointing and demoralising after such a pleasing and promising few months,” he confessed.
“We lost Brad Abraham, Ed Butcher, Ben Bament, Dave SimsBurgess, Cam Shorney and Nuno Felix and it did feel like doom and gloom then as they were big shoes to fill.
“I wanted to go more local to Paulton in terms of team building and we’ve done that by bringing in Tyler Jackson, a left-winger from Chipping Sodbury, and Liban Ibrahim, a young central midfielder who’d played local academy football.
“Jack Fillingham, Shepton Mallet’s top scorer last year (with 28 goals), has come in along with Dan Cottle and Will Hailston (both attackers) who’d previously left us and ended up at Frome together.
“Nuno (left-back) has also since pleasingly returned after briefly trying his luck with Hungerford Town.”
Paulton did suffer an afternoon of frustration first off as SW Peninsula side Saltash United pipped them 1-0 last weekend in an FA Cup tie in Cornwall.
“We’d played so well until our centre-half Craig Allan was sent off midway through the first half after a fair challenge which led to the ref initially awarding a throw,” said Rendell.
“The Saltash dugout completely manipulated the situation, going crazy and forcing the ref to speak to the linesman who himself must have felt pressurised amid unbelievable scenes. Saltash had been outplayed and they knew they had to do something. Minutes later they scored and we did everything, with ten men, bar score ourselves.
“It means Craig is harshly suspended now for three games but at least Braeden Symes (central midfielder) should return after illness.”