WARD EYEING MOOR GLORY
HE’S WON two league championships and 50 caps for his country, but Stephen Ward says he’d love nothing more than to steer Solihull Moors to glory – starting with a Wembley trip in the Isuzu FA Trophy.
The 38-year-old Dubliner is enjoying his first season as a director of football at Damson Park having stepped out of the professional game in 2022.
Alongside manager Andy Whing, Ward has helped lead Moors to the chance of a momentous double with the West Midlands club through to the last eight of the Trophy for only the second time, while also battling for promotion in the National League.
And the former Wolves, Brighton, Burnley and Ipswich defender insists Moors have both the squad and the desire to challenge for success on both fronts.
“The FA Trophy is a really important competition for us,” the former Republic of Ireland international said. “These competitions are magical – we all love them as a club.
“We said at the start of the season that we wanted to do well in the FA Trophy and you can see that from the strong teams we have selected.
“We’ve had a chance to breed a few young lads through, and they’ve done really well for us, but we’ve always picked a strong team and a team we knew could compete.
“As a club, we’ve only been to the quarter-finals once before so we are looking to create a bit of history and perform the best we can.”
Excited
Ward, together with Moors chairman Darryl Eales, was in attendance for Monday’s quarter-final draw, held just a corner kick away from Damson Park at Isuzu UK’s Solihull headquarters.
Moors were handed a trip to either Wealdstone or Hendon – whose fifth round tie has been rescheduled for a second time o n Tuesday night – and Ward knows to expect a tricky encounter whichever of the north-west London rivals win through. 2023-24 ISUZU FA TROPHY QUARTER-FINAL DRAW “Ideally, you always want a home draw but, wherever you play, it’s always going to be tough at this stage of the competition as they all are good teams who are left,” Ward added. “We’ll have a keen eye on the rescheduled Wealdstone v Hendon game but we are expecting a tough game either way and it’s a tie we are very excited for.”
Culture
Since hanging up his boots while at League Two Walsall in 2022, Ward has hardly been out of the fast lane, He started his coaching career as assistant manager to former Wolves teammate Roger Johnson at Brackley Town five months later but the pair left the following April, just before the campaign.
His director of football role represents a different challenge now for the Irishman, but it’s one he continues to relish.
“It’s something I’m really passionate about,” Ward added. “Working alongside the manager and the coaching staff, the chairman, CEO, recruitment team, it’s a bit of everything and I’m really enjoying it.
“The standard has really surprised me, it’s really competitive. There’s some outstanding football to watch and we’ve tried to build a culture and a squad that’s capable of competing.
“We had an unbelievable start and when you start like that you probably have a bit of a target on your back.
“We had a little bit of wobble during a tough part of the season that we had to navigate through but I feel like we learnt a lot through those games and it’s been a bit of a reset over the last few weeks to go again for the last 15 games of the season.
“We’re in a good spot at the minute and we’re just really excited to kick on and see if we can get in those play-offs and hopefully progress as far as we can in the FA Trophy as well.”
Saints’ play-off