STAGS STILL LOOKING UP
JUST two wins from eight in January put a dent in AFC Totton’s promotion hunt, but boss Louis Langdown is still looking up.
Despite a poor month, the Stags remain in the hunt for a Evo-Stik South West play-off spot in Langdown’s first full season in charge, having taken over in November 2016.
Before then, the Sport, Health and Social Sciences lecturer at Southampton Solent University had spent time at current Premier League sides AFC Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Southampton.
Indeed, it wasn’t long ago that AFC Totton were just one game away from facing Premier League opposition, reaching the second round of the FA Cup in 2011. And Langdown is hoping the club can continue their rebuild having been relegated from Southern Premier in 2013.
Langdown told The NLP: “It’s been a good improvement from where the club has been for the last few years. It’s had some financial issues and had to fight relegation so it’s nice to be battling at the top end of the table.
Galling
“As is the case with a lot of clubs in Non-League, one minute you’re flush and the next you’re not. A lot of people behind the scenes have done an excellent job to keep the club afloat, and now we’ve managed to kick on this year.
“We’ve got a good young team and we’ve recruited well with players that want to learn and push forward. The last few games we have suffered some galling defeats and January hurt us a little bit but everyone can beat everyone else.
“Ideally we’ll get this group up at some point. It’s probably too early to go up this year but we’d like to get promoted and push on.” Having had a coaching career that also took in a spell at Portsmouth, Langdown’s job at Totton sees him enter into one of the busiest footballing areas of the country, with Eastleigh, Havant & Waterlooville and Winchester City, plus plenty of others, all on the doorstep. Langdown added: “It’s a congested area for Non-League clubs. You’ve probably got some Wessex League sides that have bigger budgets than ourselves. We’ve got good facilities which helps, but financially it is still difficult. “This was a totally different venture for me. I’ve been part of the support staff at professional clubs for 15 years and NonLeague is a different beast.”