Managing Hengrove in Toolstation top flight is still the big ambition for Jamie
❝ Our dated old clubhouse has been modernised beyond recognition thanks to players and committee working hard in their spare time
JAMIE Hillman is hoping for third time lucky when it comes to his dream of managing Hengrove Athletic in the Toolstation Western League’s top flight.
The AVB Stadium supremo has twice steered the club’s first team into the Premier Division, only to pass up the opportunity each time of playing boss on the bigger stage.
Those decisions could suggest to some that Hillman simply hasn’t had the stomach to lead a Hengrove outfit he has devoted so much of his life to into what remains a tough and competitive non-League Step 5 section, packed with ambition and financial clout, certainly at the upper end of the spectrum.
Not so. Soon after the 41-year-old Bristolian hoisted Hengrove into the Prem as runner-up to Sherborne Town in spring 2013 for the first of those two promotion successes, Hillman was taking up the reins at local rivals Hallen, an established top-tier outfit eager to build on some encouraging years under Paul Owen’s stewardship.
While his former Hengrove players were tumbling straight back to the league’s second tier, Hillman’s one and only crack at the Hallen hot-seat in 2013-14 ended in not so unsuccessful vein, a modest tenthplace finish lifted by an impressive march to the fifth round of the FA Vase and a GFA Challenge Trophywinning triumph.
He said: “I say to people now that I regretted leaving Hengrove at the time but I had no regrets joining Hallen as they’re a great club and I made some good friends there. It was a good season on the whole and it was just a shame we fell away late on in the league after so much success in the cups.
“Hengrove were relegated that season and I’d already told Hallen I’d be stepping away at the end of that one good year with them. It was a no-brainer for me to go straight back to Hengrove as they’re my club.”
Hillman came up against his former team-mates twice in Prem combat with Hallen during that 2013-14 campaign.
“Those were strange for me,” he said, “especially the first game at Hengrove when I was given a frosty reception which disappointed me, although I understood it. Hengrove scored after 30 seconds and they all ran towards me to make sure I knew it. In the end we came back to win 3-1.
“Later in the season we played them for a second time when we scored in injury time to equalise and it was such an odd feeling. It didn’t sit comfortably with me as it further worsened their situation at the bottom.
“Nonetheless, I was back at Hengrove that summer and we went on to enjoy a couple of good seasons, including beating Willand 2-1 in the final of the Les Phillips Cup (2015-16) against all the odds, having knocked out another Premier Division side in Melksham by the same score in the semis.
“The next season, after finishing second behind Wellington in a tense situation which boiled down to the last game, we were promoted again, although I’d already told our chairman midway through that season I wouldn’t be able to commit to the next one!”
Hillman explained: “One big reason for my decision to leave then was getting married, although people don’t always understand the time it takes to be a manager at this level.
“I recommended that John Durbin, who had been my assistant, took over from me and, to be fair, they finished ninth in his first season in the Prem with them before they went back down 12 months later.
“During my break I’d been getting itchy feet again. I’d been with one of my sons looking for acorns and leaves at Ashton Court for his school project and ended up buying a half season ticket to watch Bristol City with both my boys while helping out every other weekend at my local club St Aldhelms, where I was chairman of the junior section. My lads, Finley (12) and Ralfey (nine), both play there on Headley Park School field, a stone’s throw from our home.
“I had previously had the chance to go to Ashton and Backwell United in Toolstation One where I had a good chat with Mike Thomas (chairman) about the potential.”
Hillman recalled: “I’d joined Hengrove from Backwell in 2005 after serving as reserve-team manager there and then as assistant to Jamie Patch with the firsts.
“My sons were keen to keep watching City, which is the one reason I didn’t agree to go there when that opportunity arose.
“Stuart Jones came in at Backwell and has done a great job since. I see in their players what we always had at Hengrove; a group of talented lads who could move up to bigger and better things but choose to stay because they enjoy it where they are.”
By his own admission, Hengrove needed every ounce of that “old spirit” to see them through a turbulent spell after getting trounced 7-0 at home by Bishops Lydeard on day one for Hillman back at the Norton Lane rudder for the start of the curtailed 2019-20 programme.
“I was sat there thinking, ‘What the hell is going on here,’” he said. “It was a totally different Hengrove to the one I’d left when we’d won promotion.
“We flooded the team with young and inexperienced lads at the start of last season and lost lots of games. But the improvement has been marked up until the point when we’ve all had to stop again.
“Where it had all gone wrong before my second return to Hengrove, people will inevitably have their own views.
“The first time the club was relegated a few years prior, it was in a better position to bounce back with a fight. This time there was nothing and that old Hengrove camaraderie I spoke of was totally missing.
“Now we’re at a point again where our players are being offered those £20 notes to play elsewhere but are opting to stay put.
“Our dated old clubhouse has been modernised beyond recognition thanks to players and committee working hard in their spare time, not to mention the support given by our sponsor Alan Burton, of AVB Commercials in Avonmouth who, as our chairman Mike Greatbanks has said, has been a breath of fresh air since he’s come in and galvanised everyone.
“Like anything in life, if you see people around you going above and beyond it makes you think: ‘I’d better do my bit.’
“Jon Berry and Ian Jones have been fantastic, too, as my assistants and at no time did I say I didn’t want to be here after that difficult start and 7-0 Lydeard mauling.
“It was a tough learning curve for the young lads and with the help of experienced players like Carl Bush in goal, Luke Crewe (defender), Craig White (midfielder), Sam Payne (defender) and Pete Sheppard up front, we have slowly but surely turned things around again.”
Hillman emphasised: “I massively want to manage Hengrove in the Premier Division. That’s the aim, although if or when that happens, who knows?
“It’s still a learning, development thing for some of our lads: the likes of Jackson Brown, Will Harvey, Regan Burton and Jack Jones, who has been our top scorer, still haven’t had a full season of adult football yet with the football postponements we have had.
“One thing’s for sure we have high hopes for them and the other young lads coming into the club.”