Kentish Express Ashford & District
Resurgent form creates real sense of optimism
Ashford United owner Don Crosbie says there has been a real shift in attitude at the club under the management duo of Jason Whitmore and Paul Barnes. The Nuts and Bolts have largely struggled since winning promotion to Bostik South but Mr Crosbie says there is a new feeling of optimism at Homelands, exemplified by the club’s five-game unbeaten run. That, he says is down to the quality of players brought in by Whitmore and Barnes, plus a new sense of discipline. He said: “The training now compared to last year, when we had nine, 10 boys turning up, now you get 20 because they know they’ve got to turn up. Jason’s done a great job with the discipline because we didn’t have that last year. “Although we won the league, the discipline, as far as I was concerned with the training, was almost like ‘well, we don’t need to train because we’re better than everyone else’. “This year they train no matter what, Tuesday, Thursday, Tuesday, Thursday and you can see the difference that is making.” United experienced a tough initiation to life in the Bostik after lifting the Southern Counties East League title in 2016-17 and manager Danny Lye left just two games into the present campaign. The appointment of Whitmore – who had enjoyed success with United’s youth teams – raised some eyebrows outside of Homelands but Mr Crosbie was always confident in the 43-year-old’s ability. He said: “Jason has been at the club for six years, he did an excellent job with the under-16s, the under-17s, the under-18s and in the Ryman Youth League. “He’s done a fantastic job keeping that team together and doing so well, getting to the cup final with them against teams like Bromley, so he’s not an idiot but he’s not a coach, he’s a manager. “What we lacked at this club was a decent coach, of a high enough level but now we have Barnesy, who was Jason’s choice. Barnesy is an accomplished coach and he said ‘we’ve got a great cub here, a great set-up and we can actually attract very good players’.” The likes of Andrew Dalhouse, Shomari Barnwell and Rohdell Gordon have all made an impact. Mr Crosbie said: “These players, they’ve all played at a higher level, we want to start next season with a squad of players who have played together for a period of time who know each other and are strong together. “Our worry was we do not want to finish this season with a team that needs re-structuring or strengthening. We want to have a team that comes out of the blocks and goes bang, bang, bang. The team we are building now will be here next season. “It’s never been about hanging on for one season, for one or two wins. As long as we are one off the bottom we’re not going to go down, so if we use this time wisely to build a team, we can construct a team which can go for it because we will be going for the play-offs, promotion next season without a doubt.”