I’M BACK TO FINISH THE JOB I STARTED
ADAM STEVENS says Coalville Town have come a long way in the four years since he last occupied the dugout.
The manager who took the club to the Midland Alliance title and an FA Vase final appearance in 2011 returned to the Ravens this summer.
Last year Stevens’ Grantham Town thrived on their underdog tag as they reached the Evo-Stik Premier play-off final where they lost to Ashton United.
Stevens decided to move back to his hometown club and he’s looking forward to the challenge in the newly created Evo-Stik Southern Premier Central division.
“It’s a fresh start and I’m really excited,” Stevens told
The NLP. “I live in the town as well so it’s ideal. Glyn (Rennocks) is ambitious as a chairman, they have good plans and the club has come a long way. They’re really trying to go places, have lovely new changing facilities, new floodlights, new training lights – so the club is very young, but ambitious as well.
“I’m looking forward to the new league we’re going in. There’s some big teams in there – Tamworth, King’s Lynn, Kettering. It’s full of fresh challenges, fresh clubs and managers who have never seen each other before. We’ll be going to new grounds and there will be different styles of play.
“The whole area has become a different section. We get to keep the local games and then we get to go out east to places like Lowestoft and Leiston, so it will be good.
“Bear in mind it’s still only a young football club at this level. It wasn’t many years ago they were playing in the Leicestershire Senior League. Lee Harriman got them into the Midland Alliance, then myself and Tommy (Brookbanks) took them up into the Evo-Stik Prem.
“So it’s come a long way fast and the club has moved great places off the field as well.” Stevens, who will be assisted by Danny Martin, has a reputation for putting attacking teams together that deliver entertaining football. This summer he’s already signed former FC Halifax Town defender Scott McManus, Grantham winger Luke Shaw and Joe Doyle-Charles has arrived from Matlock Town.
With pre-season friendlies against Halifax, Nuneaton Borough and FA Trophy winners Brackley Town, Stevens is hoping to keep ramping up the feelgood factor.
“I like my teams to play with energy,” Stevens said. “We want lads who can get around the pitch and win it back. I want us to be better on the football now and the lads I’ve brought in are good with the ball and have energy as well. It’s what I believe and our philosophy has worked for quite a few years, so why change it?
“How I do things, let’s give it a go. We did it at Grantham. We were underdogs and we were pushing the sides at the top.
“We’ve had the lads in for a few weeks on Saturday mornings for some highintensity ball work and, credit to them, they’ve been brilliant.”