CHENERY WON’T BURY HIS HEAD!
BEN CHENERY believes Bury Town are seeing the benefits of using a heap of what football lacks – patience!
The Isthmian North Blues have seen steady year-on-year progression since their relegation back to Step 4 in 2015.
Every season has seen a higher finish in the table and, when this campaign was abandoned, they were sat fifth inside the play-off places.
Boss Chenery – who won the FA Trophy as a player with Canvey Island – has agreed terms with 15 of the 2019-20 squad for next season.
And he says that continuity has been a big part of the Suffolk club’s resurgence.
“When (chairman) Russell Ward appointed me as manager in June 2014 the club was in a difficult position financially, we made no secret of it,” Chenery told The NLP.
“He trusted me to build the playing side again. Russell and the board of directors took care of everything off the pitch and they’ve done a fantastic job with that.
“It took a lot of restructuring really. I looked at what’s been important to me over my football career in terms of values. If you look at our turnover of players, it’s very low. We retain players well.
“I don’t think there is any benefit in a player looking over their shoulder when they have a bad performance. I don’t think that’s a way you can run a football club.
“We’ve kept the same core players over the last four or five years. That’s really come to fruition. What we do, the way we play, is slightly different – a little bit prescriptive in certain areas of the pitch in values and identity – and it can take a little while to adjust to that.
“When players are under pressure, they go back to default. That’s no fault of their own, it’s what they’ve always known, and they go back into those bad habits as such. It takes a while to get out of that.
“Keeping the group together and keeping so many players from last season is immense for us. We try and recruit really wisely and we’ve done that with some good young players.
“Ross Crane is going onto Ipswich. That’s at the core of what we do. The club have been great in allowing me to build that with a great staff behind me and (ex-Ipswich striker) Alan Lee coming on board. It’s enabled us to have a good foundation to keep pushing on and that’s what we’re looking to do.”
Chenery, who was previously assistant before becoming manager, says big lessons were learnt in their Isthmian Premier relegation season.
Now the feel-good factor is back at the Denny Bros Stadium. Bury have the highest average attendance in the division with fans enjoying some eye-catching football.
Rewards
“The biggest thing for me is you can have a short fix, get some quick wins, but to really have longevity you need to be trusted for a period of time,” Chenery said. “The club have been great in backing me.
“There have been some tough times, no doubts about it. The way we played when I was first manager of this is very different to now. We couldn’t do that at that time, for many reasons, and it’s take time to identify who can come in and do that.
“It’s a job I love, it’s never ending, but it’s full of rewards. When I send a team out it’s full of trust and, as a manager, I know what I’m going to get.
“The supporters create a great atmosphere but I’m only as good as my players and they’ve been very good.”
That trust is also seen in the progress of midfielder Crane.
The 17-year-old was a first team regular all season and his talent has been spotted by Ipswich Town, where he has now signed a two-year deal. “Suffolk is a big county but small in terms of the football clubs within it, we compete with each other for players,” Chenery added. “We don’t sit at the top table, I’m fully aware of that. “But my management team is fantastic. We recruit as well as possible. We have good links with local profesclub sional clubs for players who, at the time, weren’t ready for those clubs. You have to build with players, to make them better.
“Ross Crane has been one of those. He trusted us and listened to us. It’s not been easy –we’ve pushed him and pushed him. He has a lot of attributes that are fantastic for turning out to be a good footballer.
“It’s great for the club because we want to be identified as one that promotes players onto bigger things for them.
“We have great links with Ipswich and Norwich City and we’re grateful they, firstly, trust us with players on loan and, secondly, looking at the potential players to make the step up.”