BOSS MEL IS A BORN GWINNER!

NEW Hampton & Richmond boss Mel Gwinnett says he could not have had a better grounding to become a first team manager – not that he was planning to!

Gwinnett worked alongside Paul Tisdale at Exeter City and MK Dons and has been head of football operations at Bristol Rovers before becoming part of Dean Brennan’s coaching set-up at National League Barnet.

It was his first experience of Non-League and he’s jumped at the chance to take on an all-encompassing role at the National League South Beavers.

Following the departure of Gary McCann, Gwinnett has been appointed head of football operations as well as first team manager.

“When I first spoke to them it was referenced as a director of football type role more so than a manager – but obviously as circumstances have arisen they needed someone to come in and help with that,” Gwinnett told The NLP.

“So I just felt ‘Why not?’ It’s great experience for me. I’ve obviously worked with Paul Tisdale for many years in an assistant manager/coach role with him and, at Barnet, Dean Brennan was great – he gave me a licence to do a lot more than coaching. So I thought why not see if I can come and help out Hampton.

“I was quite happy doing what I was doing but I am one of these people, whether it’s going into Barnet and helping the staff there, or helping Tis – I like helping. The club needed some help so I’ve come in and it’s been great.

“I’ve got great staff around me, (academy boss) Steve Bates has been excellent, and it’s allowed me to slot straight in.

Business

“Really the only difference between what I’ve done in the past and now, is I actually make the final decision.”

The former Exeter City keeper is used to making those, having built up his own business – cycle shops called Bike UK Ltd – outside of football from 1994 before selling in 2013.

“I went into retail straight from football as a salesman, then a trainee manager and a manager to see develop my skills and see if I was any good at it, really.

“Off the back of that I bought my own businesses. Something I always wanted to do when I finished football was retail. My plan was to sell at 50 and come back into football on my own terms.

Standards

“But (Exeter’s) Julian Tagg and Eamonn Dolan persuaded me back into football a lot earlier than I anticipated and Paul (Tisdale) kept me in football! So while I ran and developed the shops, I was also working in football.”

And he believes experiencing a completely different industry like retail has helped give that different perspective and more rounded skills.

“Everyone goes on their own journey to management or coaching, or wherever they end up,” Gwinnett said. “What I’ve found beneficial from managing and working outside of football is it develops your man-management skills and other skillsets you don’t get a chance to do in football until you actually are a manager.

“In retail you learn lots of different skillsets that are all transferable across businesses and football. So working outside football certainly benefitted me. Whether it would benefit everyone, I couldn’t say, but it did me.”

Part of his role at the Beavers is to develop the club as a whole.

“They’ve got big ambitions but first and foremost it’s creating a sustainable football business that isn’t boom or bust that allows us to progress and allows us to maintain the standards and levels we aspire to get to,” Gwinnett said.