SELLEY BUBBLIN’ WITH FIZZERS

JOINT boss Ian Selley is optimistic good times lie ahead for new club Sandhurst Town – but knows there’s a lot of work to be done in the short term.

The former Arsenal midfielder has taken his first managerial role at the Combined Counties Division One Fizzers alongside best pal Ryan Northmore.

The pair took charge of their first game on Tuesday – a 3-1 defeat to Fleet Spurs – two days after their appointment following Ben Nwachukwu’s sacking.

Sandhurst had endured a tough start to the season losing 4-0 to AFC Portchester in the FA Cup extra preliminary round and conceding 15 goals in their first three league games which led to the management change.

It wasn’t the start Selley and Northmore had hoped for in mid-week but an 11-day break until their next game has allowed them to start building.

“We need to get things turned around as soon as we can,” Selley, who returned to the UK in August 2019 after eight years in Dubai running Arsenal’s Academy, told The NLP. “I’m sat here now on about my 14th coffee going through player lists with Ryan. The playing side is a bit of a mess at the moment.

Paths

“The short-term plan is get boys in, whether that’s loans to fill the gaps and the long-term is to get a settled squad. That seems a long way off at the moment but me and Ryan have not stopped going through things.”

Selley and Northmore became friends when playing for Woking in 2003 and both were the best man at each other’s weddings. Their football careers have taken different paths since with Northmore becoming manager of Weston-super-Mare after playing over 200 times as a goalkeeper for the club before managing Bangladesh side Saif SC and then Gosport Borough.

Gamble

At Sandhurst, they see an opportunity to build a club with the backing of sponsor The SB Group, run by Bracknell chairman Kayne Steinborn-Busse. His wife, Sophie, and son, Louie, have joined the Fizzers hierarchy as vice-chair and a director with Kayne unable to take a hands-on role at board level, as per FA ownership rules, due to his involvement with the Robins. Sandhurst are currently groundsharing with Berkshire neighbours Bracknell Town while their Bottom Meadows home undergoes improvements – and Selley wants to be part of the club for years to come.

“There’s hopefully big things happening here which excited me and Ryan,” the former Chertsey Town coach said. “We can definitely see us turning it round but it needs to be sooner rather than later.

“We weren’t really considering anything below Step 4. It’s a big gamble to drop down a couple of leagues, but talking to the staff at the ground, we see what they want to do.

“There’s a full-time chef for after training, a guaranteed pitch to train on at Bracknell, a laundry person who looks after the kit, little things that you wouldn’t expect.

“The way Sandhurst is developing we can see a long-term project there.”