IAN’S HERE FOR THE LONG HAUL

DELIVERY driver Ian Long is targeting more ‘young and hungry’ players as he bids to steer Alvechurch in the right direction again.

After back-to-back promotions and a Southern League Premier Central play-off final appearance in four highly successful years at Lye Meadow, boss Long was enticed away by divisonal rivals Stourbridge last summer.

However, Long’s reign at the Glassboys proved a short one – they were just outside the playoff zone when he left ‘by mutual consent’ in late February.

Almost immediately, he sped back into the hotseat at Alvechurch, but fortunes had plummeted in his absence with the team languishing second bottom and in grave danger of crashing back into Step 4.

Whether or not Long could have helped them pull off a great escape will never be known, but the FA’s decision to null and void the campaign ensured they wouldn’t be dropping down a level.

And on Bank Holiday Monday came the news that Church fans were craving – Long and his management team will be in charge again next term, whenever football gets back underway.

The 44-year-old, who works part-time as a delivery driver alongside his football commitments, said: “It became pretty clear soon after the season ended that we were going to stay on and the club felt it was the right time now to release a bit of good news.

Opportunity

“We have a small fanbase but they were keen to find out what was going on with ourselves and hopefully we can improve on last season.

“We had four great years at the club before and we’re looking to try to get a few lads back who were here before.”

And Long believes one factor could be pivotal in deciding if Alvechurch can keep pace with the division’s speedsters again.

“Our recruitment has to be spot-on,” he explained. “We aren’t one of the big boys in terms of money, our gates are – we are a small village club.

“But we have done well with a lot of young players over the years. We have taken gambles on players like Josh March, who’s at Forest Green now. He had been playing for Causeway at Step 5 and we had him for four years (before he joined Leamington last summer).

“We will try to offer good, young, hungry players the opportunity to play at Step 3. Hopefully, they will step up to the challenge and be prepared to listen and learn.

“At the same time, Jamie Willets, captain for a long period when

I was at the club before, is staying on. Players like him with experience at the level are equally as important as up-andcoming players.”

After reaching the divisional playoff final and losing to King’s Lynn in the 2018-19 season, Long isn’t getting carried away about what Church could achieve in the coming campaign.

He added: “We came up against a very good side in King’s Lynn and that’s been proven by how well they’ve done in National League North.

Hurdles

“If we had stayed and kept that side together we would have probably gone even closer this season, but it was always going to be difficult to keep those players with the finances available. “At the end of the day, maintaining Step 3 status has to be our number one aim. We’ve worked hard to get here.” Long’s decision to stay put came on the back of more good news for Church. Last week, they ansmall nounced that they had received funding approval to start work on their new 3G pitch at The Hayes.

The state-of-the-art community football facility will initially house the club’s junior and women’s teams and is the first phase of an ambitious plan at the south Birmingham site.

Further down the line, the first team will also relocate there. The owners of Alvechurch’s current home, Lye Meadow, are seeking planning permission for houses on the site and funds from the sale to developers would help the club build their new stadium at The Hayes.

Chairman Richard Thorndike said: “Ideally we wanted to move lock, stock and barrel with the first team as well, but we are happy with phase one.

“The project has been a labour of love for a long, long time and we’ve had a lot of hurdles to get over. To see people working on it is a real joy.”

As for Long and his staff’s decision to stay, Thorndike added: “To get them back from Stourbridge gave the whole place a lift – we’re delighted.”