Jon says pair’s decision to stand down is not a ‘knee jerk’ reaction
After nine and a half seasons in charge Baker and Underwood call time on their tenure
Jon Underwood has insisted that his and Neil Baker's decision to stand down as Slough Town’s management team after nine and a half seasons in charge has nothing to do with the club’s recent poor form, but is very much ‘their’ decision and something they’ve been considering over a period of time.
Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Hungerford Town was the Rebels’ eight league match without a win, leaving the club three points above the relegation zone ahead of next Tuesday’s fixture at Farnborough, however. Underwood believes the time is right for someone new to be given the challenge of leading the club to even greater heights.
Baker and Underwood (right) took over nine-and-a-half seasons ago, with the club struggling to get out of step 4. With the help of some of their former players from Godalming Town, they led the club to promotion through the play-offs, before stabilising once again in the Southern Premier League. They then led the club into the National League South after a famous play-off final win over King’s Lynn Town in May 2018. They’ve also led the club through two glorious runs to the second round of the FA Cup and have had the Rebels in the frame for promotion to the National League in recent seasons. Despite this success, they’ve also had to contend with budget constraints, impacting their ability to compete on an even footing for promotion, yet despite this they've remained competitive and – just over a month ago were again on the fringes of the play-off spots after an encouraging start to the 2022-23 seasons.
Speaking with the Advertiser on Tuesday, Underwood said he and Baker were proud of their achievements – leaving the club in a much stronger position than when they arrived – however, he admitted they were both ‘exhausted’ having given everything to the challenge.
Despite their somewhat precarious league position, he feels the time is right for someone new to come in and galvanise the squad towards bigger and better things.
News of the pair’s departure came through on Monday evening following a club statement, leaving fans both shocked and a little apprehensive for the future. However, most of the messages on social media were overwhelmingly positive about Underwood and Baker's time at the club. Goalkeeping coach Trent Phillips has also decided to stand down.
In the short term, former Burnham boss Manny Williams and senior players, Lee Togwell and Scott Davies will lead the side, starting with tonight’s Berks & Bucks Senior Cup tie at Maidenhead United, with Davies urging fans to come out and support the Rebels. Underwood said: “No, it’s not a sudden decision. It’s something that’s been in our minds and it’s not a knee jerk reaction to recent results.
“We had made our minds up before Saturday, and even if we'd won 5-0 on Saturday, it wouldn't have changed anything. We tend to talk things through over and over, me and Bakes (Neil Baker) before we decide. We’ve certainly done that on this occasion as you might expect.
“The club are putting out a statement from their point, and that’s going to include our side of things. I won’t stray too far from that. It’s certainly very much our decision. Things are tough financially.
“We have been restricted in what we can do, budget wise, it’s a tough league to compete in with what we have. That’s not a new thing, it’s been that way for a few years, and we’ve always had to work very hard to get the best from what we’ve got.
“I know we’ve reached a point where we’re both exhausted. We feel we’ve put everything into it. We were never going to manage the club forever, even though it might have felt like that to some people. This was always going to happen at some point.”
After nine-and-a-half generally very successful seasons at the helm, Underwood said that his and Baker’s motivation and enthusiasm for the task had started to wane in recent months. They both feel they need some time away to recharge the batteries but don’t expect to be away from the game for too long.
They plan to return as a management pair in the not-too-distant future.
Whether that’s in a few weeks or a few months, Underwood isn’t yet sure. However, he was keen to stress they don’t have any new role lined up.
“Sometimes you get a feel for a the right time,” he said. “And I think what we didn’t want to do is, when our energy and motivation was starting to drop, we felt the club probably needed something different, a fresh approach. Someone to come in and take this challenge on. It felt like the right time.
“We went into this season, wanting to complete it as our 10th season. Not for any selfish gain, just for the achievement. It would have felt like a landmark. It’s disappointing to cut that short, but it wasn’t right for us to continue. We just felt we need to step away, take a break, we’ve got nothing else lined up. We do want to manage again as a pair. We haven’t lost our ambition. We want to do that, but football is about timing, and we’ll have to see what opportunities come up and when. We both felt like we needed a break, and we’ll see what the future brings.
“We’re not leaving to go up the road or anywhere else. We just felt the time was right.”
He added: “We’ve been listening to a BBC podcast following Carl Robinson the Oxford manager and Paul Warne who was at Rotherham at the time. Paul would have been at Rotherham for five years and you get to a point where you think maybe the players need a new voice. As much as I think we’ve got the respect of the fans, and the feeling is mutual, but hearing the same interviews, hearing the same things and watching the same players, maybe a bit of freshness is what the club needs as well.
“Having done it we feel a sense of relief, a weight off our shoulders and we’re not sat here thinking, ‘have we done the right thing?’, we’re both convinced we’ve done the right thing. We’ve probably put ourselves first, which we haven’t always done, and we just felt it was time to do what was right for us. We’ve offered our help to the club in any way we can. We want to minimise the impact and we’re here to support. There is no bitterness or animosity or falling out with anyone at the club.”
They’ll continue working with the club to ensure there is minimal disruption through this process, and firmly believe the squad can dig themselves out of their current malaise. They are also extremely proud of their achievements at Slough and grateful for the kind messages they’ve received from fans since the news broke on Monday evening.
He said: “I just think you see an uplift so often. It does seem to happen, and it might just be that everyone gets in a rut, and we’ve been struggling for wins.
“Sometimes you change something, and it triggers a bit of a response. Sometimes that lasts for the rest of the season, sometimes it’s a couple of weeks, who knows, we just felt it was the right thing for us to do. We do hope the club picks up and gets on a good run of results.”
He added: “It’s been nice to read those. Because things have been tough recently you tend to focus on that. But we’re making a conscious effort to look at the bigger picture. We came into the club when they’d been desperately trying to get out of step 4 and been unsuccessful.
“We did that in our first season, then stabilised at the level above. The move to Arbour Park gave everyone a lift and we were able to push on again and we’ve also had the cup runs. It’s been a brilliant time and we’re proud of what we’ve achieved. If you can leave the club in a better position than when you arrive, then you’ve done a good job. We feel proud of what we’ve done. It’s been a real privilege to manage the club and the supporters have been incredible to us, they’ve never turned on us when we’ve had poor runs, they’ve always supported. It’s sad in many ways but we just have that overriding feeling that it is the right time. You never know the timescale. We might get a call next week or we might not get one for six months. You never know what might happen at other clubs and when opportunities might come up. We’ll be ready when that opportunity comes.”