A message from the chairman

It’s been a very draining week, emotionally, for a lot of us after losing the management team.

Tony came to us on Monday night last week and let us know that he had been approached by Consett and was planning on taking the job, and then confirmed he was taking it the following day. It came as a bit of a shock but we asked the lads to stick together and let us worry about the next man coming through the door, and they certainly did that against Crook Town on Saturday.

That’s where we are at the minute. Yes, we’ve lost Tony and the lads but the players’ commitment at Crook was there for all to see. I was absolutely delighted with the performance and the way they responded. It was one of our best performances of the season.

We were very impressive and so far, since Tony left, the players have been very professional about things. It’s football – players come and go, managers come and go and that’s what’s happened here. I think everyone was shocked and upset but the reaction has been first class. There’s a real togetherness with this team, they get on well with each other and they have a laugh but they also put a shift in.

The process is ongoing. We’ve had many applications come in for the job but we are going to be patient with it. We won’t be rushing into anything. We have set a deadline of Sunday 20th November for expressions of interest and have begun the process of looking at the applications that have already come in.

This club is a special club – we’ve got the juniors set up, we’ve got the Under-23s and we’ve got the first team. The junior set-up has accelerated significantly over the last year and the man who comes in will need to embrace that in terms of the Under-23s and juniors, because we are trying to build a club here. We aren’t living for today, we are living for tomorrow.

The position remains open and available and we will see how the recruitment process pans out. It’s got to be the right person. This is an excellent job for someone – we have a top 10 side with a great squad and a great set of lads. It’s a job I’d be looking at if I wasn’t happy where I was, or if I was looking at the next step in my career.

In the meantime, Dale Burrell, Ross Peareth and Matty Pattison will continue to lead the team. We are extremely grateful to all three for what they’ve done – they have the best interests of the club at heart.

We will keep everyone updated when there is something to say. In the meantime, expressions of interest can be emailed to whickhamfc1944@gmail.com by Sunday 20th November.