Mu, welcome back to Corinthian-Casuals, as manager. How does that sound?
Amazing. I’m delighted to be given this opportunity, first and foremost, and thank you to Brian Adamson for that. This club is a place that I call home, it’s my local club and it feels great to be here.
What are your abiding memories of this place and what kind of an atmosphere do you associate it with?
I ended my career here under James Bracken and, to give credit where it’s due, what he had here was unbelievable. I’ve been around non-league football for a long time and I feel like they were the best years of my footballing life. The fans were unbelievable, they would come out in numbers, even on Tuesday nights, away from home, they would still turn up. I am trying to bring that back.
You know the potential of this club. Where do you want to take it?
Wow, what a question! It might sound mad, but I think we can take this club wherever we want to. The club has got fantastic people behind the scenes and I feel like, with what I will bring as well – I’m a young manager and I’m hungry, very committed – we can go wherever we want to take this.
What has been the first stage of your plan upon taking over as manager?
Having the right people around me. I need strong people around me, people that I can trust. That’s always the case, whether it’s business, whether it’s life, and football is no different. That is the foundation – having people around you who will be there for you when you need them to be.
Amazing. I’m delighted to be given this opportunity, first and foremost, and thank you to Brian Adamson for that. This club is a place that I call home, it’s my local club and it feels great to be here.
What are your abiding memories of this place and what kind of an atmosphere do you associate it with?
I ended my career here under James Bracken and, to give credit where it’s due, what he had here was unbelievable. I’ve been around non-league football for a long time and I feel like they were the best years of my footballing life. The fans were unbelievable, they would come out in numbers, even on Tuesday nights, away from home, they would still turn up. I am trying to bring that back.
You know the potential of this club. Where do you want to take it?
Wow, what a question! It might sound mad, but I think we can take this club wherever we want to. The club has got fantastic people behind the scenes and I feel like, with what I will bring as well – I’m a young manager and I’m hungry, very committed – we can go wherever we want to take this.
What has been the first stage of your plan upon taking over as manager?
Having the right people around me. I need strong people around me, people that I can trust. That’s always the case, whether it’s business, whether it’s life, and football is no different. That is the foundation – having people around you who will be there for you when you need them to be.
Mu the player was gifted, committed, and had a knack of popping up with a contribution at key moments. What is Mu the manager shaping up to be?
Listen… I’ll leave you to be the judge of Mu the player! This is something that is massive to me, it’s not new to me, but of course managing a team is completely different to playing. I will approach it with hard work, commitment, morals, standards. Those are the principles and if you do those things right, and have the foundations right, then I feel like we’ll be alright.
You’ve named James Bracken and Brian Adamson already, and you’ve worked with a few other well-respected non-league managers in your time. Have they influenced you?
Of course. You live, you learn, you pick up bits here and bits there, and you put your own twist on it. Gavin Rose, top manager, at Dulwich Hamlet – a young, knowledgeable manager. Jamie Howell, at Bognor Regis – exactly the same. Jim Cooper, at Met Police, was another top manager, but he taught me in a different way. Mick Sullivan, at Leatherhead, had an unbelievable squad and he knew just to let us play our football. I feel like I’ve picked up bits from all of those managers along the way and learned from them. Now I’ve got my own philosophy, my own beliefs, and I’m going to try and implement that.
What would be your message to the supporters about what they can expect?
First and foremost, to the supporters, I want to say you’re in good hands. You have a man here who cares for this club. I love this club and I want to bring success back to the club, because I feel the fans deserve that. I know the fans, I know what they’re like and they deserve success again. I don’t really want to speak about the last two years, because we all know what’s happened, but I’m here to change that and give them something they can actually shout about.
Listen… I’ll leave you to be the judge of Mu the player! This is something that is massive to me, it’s not new to me, but of course managing a team is completely different to playing. I will approach it with hard work, commitment, morals, standards. Those are the principles and if you do those things right, and have the foundations right, then I feel like we’ll be alright.
You’ve named James Bracken and Brian Adamson already, and you’ve worked with a few other well-respected non-league managers in your time. Have they influenced you?
Of course. You live, you learn, you pick up bits here and bits there, and you put your own twist on it. Gavin Rose, top manager, at Dulwich Hamlet – a young, knowledgeable manager. Jamie Howell, at Bognor Regis – exactly the same. Jim Cooper, at Met Police, was another top manager, but he taught me in a different way. Mick Sullivan, at Leatherhead, had an unbelievable squad and he knew just to let us play our football. I feel like I’ve picked up bits from all of those managers along the way and learned from them. Now I’ve got my own philosophy, my own beliefs, and I’m going to try and implement that.
What would be your message to the supporters about what they can expect?
First and foremost, to the supporters, I want to say you’re in good hands. You have a man here who cares for this club. I love this club and I want to bring success back to the club, because I feel the fans deserve that. I know the fans, I know what they’re like and they deserve success again. I don’t really want to speak about the last two years, because we all know what’s happened, but I’m here to change that and give them something they can actually shout about.