DOUBLE ACT SO SLICK FOR CITY!

ROOKIE joint-manager Chris Woollcott is hoping his prom- ising partnership with Josh Hall can help Canterbury City thrive in the upcoming campaign.

The duo were thrown in at the deep end just before Christmas, taking the reins when manager Clive Cook and his players departed en masse in a bust-up over finances.

They quickly put a new side together and City were a comfortable eighth in the Southern Counties East League Premier Division when the season came shuddering to a halt in March.

Now Woollcott is hoping the fledgling double act can continue to keep the Kent club in calmer waters next season, it gets under way. The 32-year-old told The

NLP: “I wasn’t a big fan of joint managers before, but it seems to work for us.

“We are quite different characters, but we bounce ideas off each other quite well and complement each other well. We challenge each other.”

Productive

The former Herne Bay reserve-team boss is relishing the chance to step up to the plate and is also fortunate that he can call on younger brother Adam, who plays in midfield, to help get his message across.

He said: “The opportunity to manage Canterbury came out the blue and I felt it was the right time to give it a go.

“We came in at Christmas and had to put a new squad together. We had just started to get things going when the season got brought to a halt.

“It would be nice to have some sort of a pre-season this time to get our style across to the boys and so everyone knows their jobs.

“Adam is a good trainer and takes his football seriously. It’s like having another coach in the squad. He’s only 28, but he’s got a lot of experience.

“He’s been out to America to play and he’s played a lot of games for Canterbury and other clubs at this level and above. It’s good to have him around.”

Woollcott has been encourwhenever aged by the way his and Hall’s squad is shaping up for the new campaign.

“It’s been a productive time so far,” he explained. “We spoke to the squad we finished with last season quite quickly and most were keen to stay on.

Confident

“We have probably retained about a dozen of the 17 or 18 players we had, so that’s quite pleasing. It’s just a case of adding to it where we felt we needed to improve.”

To that end, Woollcott and Hall have brought in the likes of versatile former Whitstable Town man Harry Brown, striker Billy Lewins and left-sider Matty Robinson.

But Woollcott believes paof tience will also be necessary for Canterbury, who reached the FA Vase semi-finals in 201819 and groundshare at Faversham Town.

“We will look at it as a two or three-year job,” said Woollcott. “There’s a lot going on behind the scenes with trying to get planning permission for a new ground and we want to make sure we’re progressing on the pitch, too.

“We’re not going to have a top-end budget, but I want us to be an exciting team to watch, it’s going to be a young squad.

“I’m not going to set a number for where we’ll be – we’ll see where it takes us. After the first chunk of games, we’ll have a much better idea, but we are quite confident.”