UP AND AT ‘EM
Introducing the Step 4 newcomers and their hopes and aspirations for the new season at a higher level
We meet each and every one of the Step 4 new boys looking to kick off their seasons in style
IAN LONG says Alvechurch are looking forward to visiting plenty of new grounds in the Evo-Stik South – as long as they get the right result.
A year after racking up more than 100 points only to miss out on the Midland League title to Hereford, Long’s side went one better to win promotion to Step 4.
And the former Tividale boss says they’re up for the challenge.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Long said. “A couple of years ago we went to Cleethorpes in the Vase – that’s the furthest we’ve been and we’re going there again.
“We’ve obviously got Sheffield, Stocksbridge, Spalding, Lincoln we’ve done before with Tividale. We enjoy it. We get the music blazing and a few beers if we’ve won. The coach trips are alright then. It’s when you’ve lost.
“I think the lads realise it’s going to be a long trip home if we’ve not got the right result. But when you have it’s important for team spirit.”
Alvechurch have exciting plans for a new ground that they are already using as a training base.
Long has been pleased with their summer shopping that includes the arrival of Luke Keen, who has topped the league’s goal charts with Romulus in the past.
His management team have experience of Step 4 when they were in charge at Tividale, but he admits it will be a learning curve.
“It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been at the level so we’re a little bit apprehensive about what the level is like,” Long said. “We think we’re going to be alright when we compare the side we had at Tividale to the side we have now. It’s whether the level has improved itself.
“There are some big clubs, Corby Town have dropped into the league, Frickley, and we’ve got Leek Town on the opening day – they’re an ex-Conference club. So it’s going to be a tough opener, we’ll expect them to be a very good side.”
And he’s also looking forward to welcoming back some players whose jobs mean a last-minute getaway before the big kick-off.
“We’ve got a few lads away at the moment because they are teachers or their partners are,” Long added. “It’s something we have to put up with at this level of football and it does them good as well. As long as they watch what they eat, if there’s a gym in the hotel or they can go and have a couple of runs, it does them ok.
“We check their weights when they come back to make sure they haven’t put anything ridiculous on!” MATT BADCOCK QUIZ question for you. Name the football manager who won promotion at the end of last season without taking charge of a single match?
Step forward Shoreham’s Sammy Donnelly. So good at his job that he doesn’t even need to step into the dugout and his team end up playing in a higher league.
“I’ve never really looked at it that way but I suppose it would make a good question down your local on quiz night,” laughed the new boss.
“It’s been a very strange time for the club, but although the summer has been full of ups and downs we can’t wait now for the real football to start and for the club to be playing in the Bostik South – however we got there.”
When he arrived at the club, the brilliantly named Mussels had missed out on promotion from the Southern Combination League by some way.
Finishing five points behind champions Haywards Heath Town, they were planning for another go at it this time around.
They would have to do it without their manager Brian O’Toole, though. He resigned before Donnelly answered the call.
Six weeks later, the decision which rocked everyone arrived. Heath had nine points deducted which meant over a month and half after the final day of the season – Shoreham had won it after all!
Not only league winners, but promoted too. One of those ‘only in Non-League’ situations had unfolded.
Donnelly added: “It’s a bit strange but we’ve thrown ourselves into it. I came here with one aim, to get the club up and now we find ourselves in Step 4.
“It was a good start to my time at the club winning promotion within a few weeks and without taking a game! We’ll take it, that’s for sure. We feel for Haywards Heath, but it’s not the way we wanted to do it either.
“You want football decided on the pitch not in FA boardrooms. We didn’t have anything to do with their points deduction but we’ve got to take what’s been decided and we’re looking forward to the new challenge.”
But with their destiny not known until June, are Shoreham playing catch up?
“We are if I’m being honest,” Donnelly said. “It was a dramatic six weeks or so, and we’re a bit behind still because of it.
“The jump is big, really big. We’re going to be going to teams who pay players well and we need to measure up to that.
“We’re a young side, but we’ll aim as high as we possibly can. There’s no lack of ambition, they’re a good bunch of players who have impressed me with their work ethic in pre-season.We’ve got a squad together that we hope can hold our own. We’re just waiting for next weekend now when we can put that into practice.” SAM ELLIOTT GLEN GOLBY reckons Barking made their best summer signing in June – bringing in Justin Gardner as joint-manager!
The former Aveley boss joined the Blues’ management team following their Essex Senior League title triumph under Golby and Steve Willis last season.
Willis is concentrating on playing in the Bostik North this season and Golby says Gardner has already helped the club in a big way.
“We always knew we had to bring someone else in to help because Steve wants to get himself fit and play this year, so we were weighing up a few options,” Golby said. “We both know Justin and when the opportunity came up we got him on board.
“All of a sudden the players we were talking to were more interested in coming. His contacts are second to none, he’s an established manager, and I think – although a lot of players know me and Steve because we’ve played – when we got Justin on board, players maybe thought we stand more of a chance.
“That’s been good because we’ve been able to get players we didn’t think we’d be able to. We’re slowly getting to a squad we feel capable of keeping us up in the Bostik League.”
Golby says expectations for life back in the Isthmian Leagues are realistic. “The chairman Rob O’Brien said Barking have waited 11 years to get out of the Essex Senior League and back into this league – he’s more than happy if we survive and then we reassess it next pre-season,” Golby said.
“Rob and (vice chairman) Mick O’Shea have been working hard for the last few years, trying to get the ground up to scratch and putting the foundations in place – me and Steve took over from them as managers and we have managed to get the club to the next level on the field.” MATT BADCOCK CLEETHORPES TOWN boss Marcus Newell reckons he might just enjoy a few games in the Evo-Stik South this season.
The Owls only had eyes for the Northern Counties East Premier division title last season.
Newell’s side surpassed even that, landing the championship with a record number of points, winning the Lincolnshire Senior Cup and reaching the FA Vase final at Wembley.
They kick off the new season against Gresley and the manager is looking forward to seeing how his side cope with the step up.
“Last year we set the target of winning the league,” Newell said. “So every game was must-win and you don’t always enjoy that.
“I don’t want to use the cliché of just staying in the league but if we can get mid-table that will be great. It’s exciting to go to different places and there’s less pressure on. That gives me the time to see where we’re at and then by the end of next year have a team capable of pushing the following year. We’re hoping to get the new ground next year which will help us a lot, so it’s exciting. I wanted a team in our town
capable of playing at this level and I think we have.”
Star striker Brody Robertson has joined National League North Alfreton, while Leigh Hutchinson is making the same leap to Step 2 with North Ferriby United.
“We’ve brought a centre-forward in, Danny North, who has played at a good level,” Newell said. “He’s another local lad who fits the bill and we’ve brought in a young lad called Ollie Donald from our close neighbours Bottesford. He’s a young centre-half, 19 years old.
“So we’ve not gone crazy. The budget is the same as last year – which is not as much as some people seem to think – and for me this year is going to be a learning curve. See what these places are like and see how good our lads are.
“The majority have been here since the Lincs League. They’ve done fabulous and I still think we’ll be OK at this level. But you don’t know until you get out there.” MATT BADCOCK PETERBOROUGH Sports manager Jimmy Dean insists there is no pressure on his players as they prepare for their first-ever season of Step 4 football.
Back-to-back promotions from the United Counties League have left the city’s second biggest side in uncharted territory.
On the way to their double promotion success, the Turbines have broken a string of records and have been the top-scorers in the top ten levels of UK football for successive seasons.
Dean said: “It’s totally different for us this time around. The last two seasons there has been a massive expectancy for us to win things, but now we’ve got to where we have people are expecting us to struggle.
“We will be coming up against clubs who have got a lot bigger budgets than ourselves so there is no pressure on us to do well.
“For me, budgets are over-rated, it’s all about the players you’ve got at your disposal. The players here are reasonably looked after and they are buying in to what we are trying to achieve. We are now Peterborough’s second biggest club and everyone at the club is proud of that.
“We’ve put a lot in to get where we have today and I’m pleased that the team hasn’t been ripped apart in the summer after building it over the last couple of years.
“There are big clubs like Kettering and Rushden 30 minutes down the road, but we know we are never going to take players off the likes of them.”
Despite getting their first taste of life in Division One South of the Northern Premier League, Dean,
side open their campaign at home to Kidsgrove next Saturday, is aiming high.
“I think we might surprise a few sides,” he said. “I’m targeting reaching the play-offs and if we can manage that it would be a huge over-achievement in our first season at this level.” GREG PLUMMER IT may be their first time back in Step 4 since reforming six years ago, but that hasn’t stopped Ashford United boss Danny Lye aiming for the play-offs.
The Kent side were Southern Counties East champions last time round and will play in Bostik South this season, this coming after a rise through the leagues having reformed from Ashford Town in 2011.
And with the play-offs going down to sixth spot, Lye has set his sights on the top end of the table.
“A lot of my boys have played Ryman Premier and Ryman South before, so we are confident and looking forward to it, he told The NLP. “We want to get a good start and then we’ll be alright.
“Being boring we want to make sure we get points on the board and be safe as soon as possible and then we’ll take it from there, but I want play-offs.
“It’s a good opportunity with that extra play-off place, and just the one going down takes some pressure off.”
Ashford start at home to Carshalton Athletic on Saturday before travelling to South Park the followwhose ing Tuesday. Lye added: “It’s good to start at home. We’ve got 3G which is huge for the club. It means we’ve got two game plans, one for home and one for away on grass. It’s quite nice to have the different game plans engrained in the players because it means we are very flexible too.” JOSHUA PECK IF at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. That’s exactly what Bristol Manor Farm have been doing after coming heartbreakingly close to promotion three seasons running.
However, last season, the dream of playing Step 4 football was secured, as Lee Lashenko’s men romped to the Western League title to seal their first ever season at this level.
Naturally, everyone associated with the Farmy Army can’t wait for their season ahead with media manager Kev O’Donohoe telling The NLP: “It is fair to say the players are chomping at the bit waiting for that first blast from the referee’s whistle.
“That same buzz is palpable off the pitch and around the club in general – these are unchartered waters for most of us, but the same challenge so readily accepted by the players is also one that our small army of unpaid volunteers is relishing.”
Since joining the club in 2013, boss Lashenko has done a brilliant job, with Manor Farm only ever on an upwards trajectory, and with the hard work put in to reach the Southern West league, the club are in no mood for a short stay.
“When the manager joined in 2013, our aim to was bring Conference football to the club by 2020.” said O’Donohoe. “We are not going to rest on our laurels. We are not here to make up the numbers and look back on last season’s triumph. We are only looking forward.” MATTHEW BISHOP