DANNY’S WAY IS OK WITH CRAY
Kedwell will take fire to the dugout
DANNY KEDWELL reckons he has fallen on his feet to get his first managerial job at Cray Wanderers – and he plans to bring the same winning attitude he had as a player to the dugout.
The 37-year-old famously scored the winning penalty that fired AFC Wimbledon into the Football League in 2011 and he also won promotions with Gillingham and Ebbsfleet United.
While he hasn’t officially hung up his playing boots, the former Welling, Grays and Havant & Waterlooville striker, is ready to take his chance with the Pitching In Isthmian Premier side.
“I am really enjoying it already,” Kedwell told The NLP. “It’s different compared to me sitting in a room with a manager and sorting out a deal – trying to get someone else on board is completely different. It’s good. I like it.
Blank canvas
“I set up the Ebbsfleet Academy nearly from scratch – there were two or three teams and now we’ve got 16 teams and an
U19s side. So I’ve been doing lots of coaching and managing for years. I didn’t know if
I’d enjoy it but I really have. Then taking the U19s I thought, ‘Do you know what, I really want to do men’s football’.
“I’ve done well there as a player so why can’t I go and start my managerial career there too? “I’ve been around these leagues for a long time and I started there as a youngster. I went into the Football League and then I came back in. So I know these leagues very well, it was a no-brainer to start my managerial career here. “And what a club it is to go into with Cray. They’ve got ambitions, a new stadium coming – it’s exciting times ahead.
“I’m a born winner and that’s what I will bring to this team. At Wimbledon and Ebbsfleet I was captain when we got promoted. So I know how to do a changing room and hopefully I can bring that to them as well. You need a good changing room.”
Kedwell, who will register as a player, replaces Tony Russell and his assistant Joe Vines. Under Russell, the Wands won promotion to Step 3 and Kedwell knows it will be a hard act to follow.
“Tony and Joe have done a great job the last six years,” Kedwell, who played for Step 5 Hollands & Blair this season before returning to Havant, added. “So it’s going to be tough. People are going to be looking out for it.
“But I am concentrating on the squad I am going to build. It’s going to be a new squad because a lot of the players have left.
“They had some great players in the team so it’s unfortunate they’ve gone. But it is a blank canvas and I am looking forward to it. It’s fallen nicely for me.”