Yesterday Hereford United posted an article entitled 'A word from our new manager'.
It has provoked quite a lot of reaction on the forums, so for anyone who hasn't read it, here it is:
Jon has come to Hereford United with a wealth of experience working for various clubs, such as:
Assistant Manager – Bedford Town F.C. (Ryman Division 1).
Stevenage - He coached and managed under 16's and 18's at the club against scholars and professional teams.
Manager – Bedford United F.C. Phil Cavener as his Assistant Ex-Burnley /Northampton & Kettering Town Player. (He was proud to be promoted and received an automatic promotion for South Midlands Division 1).
Manager – Wootton Blue Cross F.C. assistant Lil Fuccillo Ex-Luton Player and Manager. The Club finished in the highest position for 35 years two seasons running U.C.L. Premier Division also getting to the Quarter Finals F.A. VASE.
Manager - St. Neots Town assistant Scott Houghton Ex-Luton, Peterborough Leyton Orient & Stevenage Player. (Finished top 3 and got to last Quarter Finals of F.A. VASE).
Manager - Arlesey Town F.C. assistant Scott Houghton, Arlesey were Bottom of league when he took over, then, after the first 6 league games we finished 10th in the League. In the second season Scott left due to work commitments and Darran Hay an Ex-Cambridge United F.C. and Woking player became my assistant.
Director of Football – St. Neots Town.
Assistant Manager at Banbury United F.C. (Edwin Stein Manager) After 2/3 months he was asked to go to Swindon Town F.C. as a football consultant around the time Paolo Di Canio got sacked, he helped joint player managers Darren Ward and Tommy Miller in supporting the 1st team giving tactical input. At the time he was involved with collating information on opposition as well as doing first team statistics on individual Players.
Regional Scout for Reading F.C. – Worked for Colin Barnes Head of Recruitment. Academy Head of Recruitment
Stevenage F.C. – Worked alongside head of academy Darren Sarll.
Jon is looking forward to working with Hereford United and has the following to say about his new role:
In the short term I aim to assemble a strong squad to compete with the top 3 teams in the Southern Premier this season. We have a solid group of players that share our ethos of how we should play football at Edgar Street this season. Our ambitions are high but achievable.
As the manager I am keen to create a new atmosphere, to ensure our environment is at it’s optimum, as this, will ensure players have the right infrastructure surrounding them to concentrate on the game. Every player is completely committed and understands the passion and dedication we expect this season. With the right mind set and ambition, training and commitment I strongly believe they will perform at their best in every challenging game.
With these foundations in place and players all singing from the same hymn sheet, I am quietly confident that we will have the strength and depth to be a contender for the league. This season we have an excellent group of players who are hungry and all share the same desire to succeed. From 9th August they will be responsible for producing the good flowing passing football that we have instilled in to them in these recent hard weeks of pre- season training.
All I really want is to get the fans back on track so they support their local team and acknowledge that they will have a very good team to watch this coming season. This is a massive club steeped in history and it is an honour for me to manage a club of this magnitude, I will do my utmost to ensure that the fans get value for money every week.
We have worked hard and created a team that can push on to better things, we have the rights tools and ingredients to work with. It is up to the management team and the players to repay the Hereford United F.C. supporters by getting the team where it deserves to be.
LONG TERM AIMS:
My long term aims are to help the club bring back the good times to Edgar Street by producing good F.A. Cup runs and doing well in the F.A. Trophy while, obviously, having a team that will compete at their best in whichever league we play in. I will be working hard to get us back playing in the Conference Premier as soon as this is possible. The club needs to be self sustainable and this can only be achieved with the help from our entire fan base (supporting the club) alongside local companies that would provide positive investment into the club.
This is crucial to morale, and club loyalty, I know that in previous years the club has brought the Hereford community together as a whole. It shouldn't matter what league we are in, we need support at every stage and we need to work together like the family we are because HEREFORD is a footballing City. It would be great to see that loyalty again, we will be rewarded with the pride our supporters feel when they see our hard work this season.
The Management Team and I have been working tirelessly to create the right, positive atmosphere on the field. We've shown our faith in the players and made this a team effort from everyone involved. We’re confident that within the team we all share the same ethos along with the passion and drive to succeed. We can’t forget that we play for the fans and it’s the fans loyalty we need. Just a bit of support and faith in their home team would reap so many rewards and again we could all be the footballing community Hereford has been proud of in the past, without an unnecessary divide.
I'm in no doubt that we will go on to be a force to reckon with this season and it would be great if fans old and new could be a part of making this happen and share in our successes. Right now, I know that our team is formidable, with the support of their local community they could be incredible.
The players are working tirelessly to ensure they make their fans proud while producing football that’s great to watch. Fitness levels are at their peak and competition is fierce, players must have technical skills alongside raw ability to play and ours have. They also have great talent that can be nurtured and improved upon, making them the ones to watch in football as each one has the potential to be brilliant.
We aren't looking for players that just want to lump the ball forwards we have been working on the players playing the correct way; that is passing teams off the pitch. This has been instilled in to all of the players from day one and this will carry on while I am at the helm. We will play and produce fast flowing, high energy, exciting football, while we will penetrate teams in the final third and work overtime to win the ball back when we are out of possession.
My remit for the longer term is to galvanise a team worth coming to watch every week and ensure that we can win more games than we lose. Coming second isn't a position I'm comfortable with as I demand professionalism on and off the field. We definitely have players in the squad that are more than capable of turning games on their own, as long as we are strong in every department I don’t think we will go far wrong, after all, if you aren't conceding goals you win games. Obviously all this will only be possible if we have everyone ALL singing off the same hymn sheet so please for the future and the longer term for the club we all need to pull together.
Assistant Manager – Bedford Town F.C. (Ryman Division 1).
Stevenage - He coached and managed under 16's and 18's at the club against scholars and professional teams.
Manager – Bedford United F.C. Phil Cavener as his Assistant Ex-Burnley /Northampton & Kettering Town Player. (He was proud to be promoted and received an automatic promotion for South Midlands Division 1).
Manager – Wootton Blue Cross F.C. assistant Lil Fuccillo Ex-Luton Player and Manager. The Club finished in the highest position for 35 years two seasons running U.C.L. Premier Division also getting to the Quarter Finals F.A. VASE.
Manager - St. Neots Town assistant Scott Houghton Ex-Luton, Peterborough Leyton Orient & Stevenage Player. (Finished top 3 and got to last Quarter Finals of F.A. VASE).
Manager - Arlesey Town F.C. assistant Scott Houghton, Arlesey were Bottom of league when he took over, then, after the first 6 league games we finished 10th in the League. In the second season Scott left due to work commitments and Darran Hay an Ex-Cambridge United F.C. and Woking player became my assistant.
Director of Football – St. Neots Town.
Assistant Manager at Banbury United F.C. (Edwin Stein Manager) After 2/3 months he was asked to go to Swindon Town F.C. as a football consultant around the time Paolo Di Canio got sacked, he helped joint player managers Darren Ward and Tommy Miller in supporting the 1st team giving tactical input. At the time he was involved with collating information on opposition as well as doing first team statistics on individual Players.
Regional Scout for Reading F.C. – Worked for Colin Barnes Head of Recruitment. Academy Head of Recruitment
Stevenage F.C. – Worked alongside head of academy Darren Sarll.
Jon is looking forward to working with Hereford United and has the following to say about his new role:
In the short term I aim to assemble a strong squad to compete with the top 3 teams in the Southern Premier this season. We have a solid group of players that share our ethos of how we should play football at Edgar Street this season. Our ambitions are high but achievable.
As the manager I am keen to create a new atmosphere, to ensure our environment is at it’s optimum, as this, will ensure players have the right infrastructure surrounding them to concentrate on the game. Every player is completely committed and understands the passion and dedication we expect this season. With the right mind set and ambition, training and commitment I strongly believe they will perform at their best in every challenging game.
With these foundations in place and players all singing from the same hymn sheet, I am quietly confident that we will have the strength and depth to be a contender for the league. This season we have an excellent group of players who are hungry and all share the same desire to succeed. From 9th August they will be responsible for producing the good flowing passing football that we have instilled in to them in these recent hard weeks of pre- season training.
All I really want is to get the fans back on track so they support their local team and acknowledge that they will have a very good team to watch this coming season. This is a massive club steeped in history and it is an honour for me to manage a club of this magnitude, I will do my utmost to ensure that the fans get value for money every week.
We have worked hard and created a team that can push on to better things, we have the rights tools and ingredients to work with. It is up to the management team and the players to repay the Hereford United F.C. supporters by getting the team where it deserves to be.
LONG TERM AIMS:
My long term aims are to help the club bring back the good times to Edgar Street by producing good F.A. Cup runs and doing well in the F.A. Trophy while, obviously, having a team that will compete at their best in whichever league we play in. I will be working hard to get us back playing in the Conference Premier as soon as this is possible. The club needs to be self sustainable and this can only be achieved with the help from our entire fan base (supporting the club) alongside local companies that would provide positive investment into the club.
This is crucial to morale, and club loyalty, I know that in previous years the club has brought the Hereford community together as a whole. It shouldn't matter what league we are in, we need support at every stage and we need to work together like the family we are because HEREFORD is a footballing City. It would be great to see that loyalty again, we will be rewarded with the pride our supporters feel when they see our hard work this season.
The Management Team and I have been working tirelessly to create the right, positive atmosphere on the field. We've shown our faith in the players and made this a team effort from everyone involved. We’re confident that within the team we all share the same ethos along with the passion and drive to succeed. We can’t forget that we play for the fans and it’s the fans loyalty we need. Just a bit of support and faith in their home team would reap so many rewards and again we could all be the footballing community Hereford has been proud of in the past, without an unnecessary divide.
I'm in no doubt that we will go on to be a force to reckon with this season and it would be great if fans old and new could be a part of making this happen and share in our successes. Right now, I know that our team is formidable, with the support of their local community they could be incredible.
The players are working tirelessly to ensure they make their fans proud while producing football that’s great to watch. Fitness levels are at their peak and competition is fierce, players must have technical skills alongside raw ability to play and ours have. They also have great talent that can be nurtured and improved upon, making them the ones to watch in football as each one has the potential to be brilliant.
We aren't looking for players that just want to lump the ball forwards we have been working on the players playing the correct way; that is passing teams off the pitch. This has been instilled in to all of the players from day one and this will carry on while I am at the helm. We will play and produce fast flowing, high energy, exciting football, while we will penetrate teams in the final third and work overtime to win the ball back when we are out of possession.
My remit for the longer term is to galvanise a team worth coming to watch every week and ensure that we can win more games than we lose. Coming second isn't a position I'm comfortable with as I demand professionalism on and off the field. We definitely have players in the squad that are more than capable of turning games on their own, as long as we are strong in every department I don’t think we will go far wrong, after all, if you aren't conceding goals you win games. Obviously all this will only be possible if we have everyone ALL singing off the same hymn sheet so please for the future and the longer term for the club we all need to pull together.