BRAD’S WINGS TO SOAR AGAIN
Quinton eyes a second promotion
BRAD Quinton knows what it’s like to win promotion from National League South – and now he’s hungry to do it all over again.
Just a couple of years ago, Quinton led sixth-placed Braintree Town on a charge through the play-offs. The Iron triumphed at Hemel Hempstead, Dartford and Hampton & Richmond, with two of those successes coming on penalties, to seal an unlikely promotion.
Now the ex-Enfield Town boss is aiming for a repeat at Welling United, a side he took over in January from chairman Mark Goldberg.
With the Wings hovering just above the relegation zone, Quinton engineered a remarkable turnaround in just ten games at the helm before the pandemic brought the season to an early end. Welling picked up a bumper 19-point haul to climb to 13th place, edging up another place on points per game.
That form over a whole season would have had the Kent club in the thick of the promotion race, so you can understand why there is a degree of anticipation in the air at Park View Road.
Perilous
And Quinton certainly won’t be settling for mid-table mediocrity.
“I expect all my teams to be pushing for promotion or silverware and I’ve won promotion at Braintree on a small budget,” he told The NLP. “That was me as a player and coach, and I want to progress my career. Your expectation has always got to be high. We are going to be going for it as much as we can. Clearly we have to stay within our means with Covid etc, but, ultimately, I will do everything I can to put this club back where it should be.”
Starting with a clean slate will be a plus after Quinton took the reins with Welling in a perilous position.
“When I came in to look at the team over Christmas, it wasn’t looking good,” he said. “There was a lot going on behind the scenes and I had to deal with that, but we worked really well. We were analysing things and bringing in the right players with the budget we had. We worked hard on loans, brought in hungry players and tried some different training methods, including an extra night. We tried to make things as professional as possible for the players and they bought into it.”
Valuable
Quinton points to the progress of Huddersfield defender Romoney Crichlow-Noble as a case in point. The 21-year-old came in on loan in January and got some valuable experience under his belt as he helped the Wings climb the table.
“He’s got a new contract at Huddersfield and what I’m hearing about his progress is tremendous,” he said. “The other two boys we had from Colchester (Cameron James and Diaz Wright) did really well, too. We had the right connections for loan players and that’s something we’ll look to do again. We have agreed a few loans and we have some targets we are negotiating with. We will start to announce things shortly.”
Quinton has also been grateful to former Crystal Palace owner Goldberg since he replaced him in the managerial hotseat. “He loves football and wants to do everything,” said the former Braintree midfielder, who turns 42 in just over a week. “It was possibly a bit too much (being manager as well), but he wants to go on a journey.
“We had a lot of conversations last season and he was a great support. He was a joy to work with and I’m really looking forward to the season and the success we can bring for Welling.”