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ANDY GRAY ANNOUNCED AS NEW MANAGER

30/3/2023

Corinthian-Casuals Football Club are delighted to announce that Andy Gray will take over as manager of our men’s first team from the beginning of next season.

Gray will begin planning for the role immediately, while interim manager Brian Adamson continues in charge of the team until the end of the current campaign.

Gray, who played as a winger and a midfielder in a playing career that took him to the very top of English football, started out in the senior game with Corinthian-Casuals in January 1983, at the age of 18.

Under the guidance of legendary manager Billy Smith, he played a starring role in our run to the FA Cup first round proper the following season, when we bowed out to Bristol City after a replay. Among his Casuals team-mates at the time was Alan Pardew.

“It’s surreal to be back,” he said on accepting the role. “This is the only kind of management job I would have considered. I know what it means to play for Corinthian-Casuals and I will turn every stone for this club. I’m looking forward to getting started.”
Gray, 59, points to his grounding in non-league as providing the perfect remedy to help him fall in love with football again after he was released by Crystal Palace as a teenager, saying of his time with Casuals, “I didn’t put any pressure on myself. I enjoyed it, and with that enjoyment it just led onto bigger and bigger things.”

Those bigger things took him back to Crystal Palace and all the way to the top of the English game. He was a goalscoring hero for the Eagles as they overcame Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final in 1990, to set up a date at Wembley. He also represented Aston Villa, QPR and Tottenham in the top flight.

In 1991, he earned an England cap under Graham Taylor, playing against Poland in a qualifier for Euro 92. In the latter years of his career, after a season with CA Marbella, he played in a Scottish Cup Final with Falkirk, before finishing his career with spells at Bury and Millwall. To this day, Gray remains the last Corinthian-Casuals player to represent the full England team.

Andy was in attendance on Saturday as we beat Wingate and Finchley 1-0, and is looking forward to connecting with the supporters and the local community.

“Come and support us because we are going for it,” he said. “I’ve never sat on the fence – we’re going to get hungry players who want to play for this club. I’m all about getting the ball into the danger area as soon as possible to score goals. It’s about entertaining, that’s my philosophy. Basically, the pitch is still the same, the goals haven’t moved and it’s still about scoring goals.
“Corinthian-Casuals is a big name, a very big name. Look at the people connected to the club, like Micky and Alec Stewart – these are blue-chip figures in sport. So if there’s a talent looking to get into, or back into, the pro game, they couldn’t come anywhere better. This is a chance for them to get back on the boat.

“Our doors are open for everyone – whatever their circumstances, however they’ve fallen down, I’m a shoulder to lean on, someone to speak to and put them back on track, because I’ve been there. For me, this is where it all started and now I’m coming back… and I’m happy, I’m very happy!”

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Adamson: No targets, just pure football

28/3/2023

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By Chris Randall
Photo by Stuart Tree

It was a day to remember on Saturday, and for more reasons than many initially thought. Casuals hosted an organised Wingate & Finchley side on Brian Adamson’s return to the dugout as interim manager. Yet, against all odds, the team in pink and chocolate produced what could prove to be the standout result of the season, capitalising on a late, 90th minute free-kick which was knocked home by Malakai Hyman for three points.

“The change gave them a lift,” said Adamson of his players’ attitude over the course of the week.

The positive result certainly boosted morale amongst the squad, with the team celebrating with the fans after the match and as they made their way down the tunnel. Adamson went on to explain how the team have changed their approach for the final seven games of the season, citing a genuine change in attitude which left the team “always up for it”.

Adamson was keen not to jump the gun, pointing to the “very, very difficult conditions in [the] first half with that wind; and then it looked like we had more of the possession, more of the ball in their half, but that was because the wind was not allowing them to get out.”

When asked about several new faces that appeared in the team this weekend, Adamson said that it was difficult to tell what “difference” the players had made to the team so early on, but remained hopeful of the influence they could have in the dressing room and on the pitch. Ever aware of the popularity of the returning Jordan Clarke, the interim boss made it clear that he knew “he wasn’t going to be match fit, but I knew that he could offer us something.”

One of the main focuses of the club this season has been connecting the youth section and the first team, which the interim manager was quick to do, promoting both Will McDonald and Finlay Stubbs to the squad, which will run alongside their Under-18s duties.

Although the emphatic 1-0 win left the fans with plenty to cheer on Non-League Day, Adamson remained stern around the idea of setting no targets for the final six games of the 2022/23 season, choosing instead to spur on the players with the weightless words: “Go out there, enjoy yourselves and play your football”.

Although the relegation battle continues under Brian Adamson, he insisted he has “wiped the slate clean” in a bid to rejuvenate the squad since stepping back into the role, adding that there was no talk of, “How many points we can get.”

Helped by an extra three points from Saturday’s outing, Casuals remain in 21st place, but are still within reach of Kingstonian’s total of 33. The new manager, a new-look squad and a new month will all come together for the team’s next fixture on Saturday, as we travel away to 13th-placed Potters Bar Town, who currently boast three wins from their last five league fixtures. Adamson will be hoping his team go into this game galvanised by last weekend's triumph.

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Simba Kudyiwa: “I want to have an impact”

17/3/2023

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Interview by Zac Welshman
Image by Nathan Cracknell

Balancing life with football can be tough at the best of times. But when you throw in the added pressures of university studies, a relegation battle, and the painstaking road to recovery that comes from an ACL injury, that challenge becomes all the more difficult.
Simba Kudyiwa is learning on the job and trying to strike the perfect balance between the two as he spends his weekdays studying in quiet library rooms, and his weekends battling for three points. We caught up with the young centre-back to find out a little bit more about how he does it.

Simba you’ve taken time out of your reading week to chat to us, can you tell us a little bit more about your studies and how you balance pursuing a degree with your football career?  

I’m at the University of Kent at Canterbury, studying Sports Therapy and Rehab. It can be difficult [to balance], the commute is pretty far and when I was at Met Police FC I was working part-time at Tesco, so I’d just go to work and then go training, I didn’t have to pay too much attention to the work and I could focus on football. But now I’m in my second year at university so it’s a big year, I’ve got to pay equal [attention] to them both.
It can’t be too one-sided because otherwise, you can lose interest. I’ve had to balance my time, travelling to London two or three times a week, especially for Tuesday night games, when I get back at around 1 or 2am, and I’ve got lectures in the morning. So finding the balance is the most important thing. But I try to keep football and university separate. Football is still what I want to do in my life, so naturally I’m going to pay attention to the opportunity I’ve been given at Casuals and see how that goes.

It’s perhaps less common these days to see religious footballers, but you’re a devout Christian. How does your faith play a part in how you approach both life and football? 

I feel like with the things that I’ve been through in my life, it would have been easy to go down the route of thinking, “Why is God doing this to me?” But my mum is the biggest source of faith and she breathes that into me and my little brother. So faith is definitely a big part of life. Before games, I always say a little prayer for God to protect me on the pitch, and outside as well I still keep in touch with my religion and my faith.
In my life, there have been a lot of obstacles – I had a bad knee injury, I got released by Watford when I was 15, and at home my mum isn’t well. With all of these things, especially growing up and seeing my mum sick, you have to channel it into something positive. I believe everything happens for a reason, and having that mindset with my faith as well has helped me a lot.

What was it like to suffer that bad knee injury during such an important time for your development?  

It was challenging, when you’ve been playing football for so long and you get an injury that not a lot of people come back from, it’s scary. It’s like, “Am I even going to come back the same?” So battling those obstacles has been a challenge. Two months after starting my first year of university, I had my ACL surgery, so that whole year I was just doing rehab, but I knew if I wanted to get back to football, I had to be on top of that rehab.  

It's your first season with Corinthian-Casuals and there’s no denying that it’s been a difficult one. What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced during your debut campaign?

This is my first full season back in about two years, so adjusting to the routine, I’d say. The schedule comes quite thick and fast, I kind of forgot that to be honest! Obviously adapting to new surroundings as well. I joined in November, so I didn’t really have a pre-season, I came in and I just had to meet that level straight away, so that was difficult, but I’m just grateful to be here. I didn’t expect to be playing at this level post-injury straight away.

You’re a young player and, as you said, it’s your first full season in a while. How are you finding being back at this level, do you feel the added responsibility of playing for a club that is so intertwined with footballing history?

Yeah, 100 per cent. You know, in terms of the fans, there’s a presence, and you feel the fans here. When I was at Aldershot we had a friendly against Portsmouth and there were about 2000 people there, I can hand on heart say, there might not be 2000 Casuals fans there but it feels like that sometimes, you feel a sense of the support behind you.

And you’ve been one of the mainstays in an everchanging backline this season, how has that been for you? 

It has been difficult, I’ll be honest. But it helps when you get on with people outside of the pitch, me and Reuben [Collins], have this thing where every game day, it’s war – we’re at war again, we’re tackling and winning our headers. But when people come in and out, it’s like, “What does this guy play like, does he go up for headers, does he shy away from it?” So it can be difficult. But when people come along, I’ve just got to learn quickly what they’re like and I’m learning how other people play so it helps me massively.  

You’ve been one of the first names on the team sheet this season. Aside from your ability, is there anything that you’re showing the manager that makes you such an important part of his squad? 

When I came in, one of the first things the gaffer said to me was that he wants a defender, someone who’s going to win headers, make blocks, and is hungry to defend. For my whole life, even when I was at Watford, one thing people would say about me is that I just love to defend. So that’s what I’m here to do.

You obviously love playing at one end of the pitch, but you scored your first senior goal in a 2-1 defeat to Bognor Regis Town back in January, what was that like for you? 

It was a weird experience. I always joke around with my friends and say, “When I score, I’m going to do this celebration or that celebration,” but when you do it, everything just goes out of your head. I just ran to the corner flag! It was a different feeling, I’ve scored in academy football, l but in men’s football with three points on the line, it was definitely different.
It’s weird to say, but if someone else was to score that goal and we’d have seen that game out, maybe even having picked up a point, I’d have been happier. My friends all said, “Oh you’ve scored, you’ve scored” and I just thought, I’d have rather kept a clean sheet and got three points.

Speaking of clean sheets, the first of the season came against Canvey Island in a 0-0 draw in late February. Did you feel the relief after that?

That was a good feeling. After the game it was a bit bittersweet because we felt like we should’ve won the game. We’re not going to complain because at the end of the day if you don’t concede you don’t lose. But we all saw that game as a stepping stone, we saw it as the foundation to go on and pick up some more points.
I have the faith and the confidence that once it clicks, we can build momentum and go on a run in a positive direction. Coming from the difficulties that I’ve had over the last year or so, I’m happy to be here, but for me it’s not enough – I want to have an impact and to look back and say, “We did it.”

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Women's First Team Manager Vacancy

8/3/2023

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We are excited to announce the rebirth of Corinthian-Casuals Women FC and we’re on the hunt for a talented individual to head up our women’s first team.

As well as our men’s first team, an historic schools XI, a brilliantly successful academy, more than 30 youth teams and a walking football team, we’re now adding a women’s section at Corinthian-Casuals, providing a platform for women to play at our famous club.

To get this project underway, we’re looking for a women’s first-team manager who can take the reins and help us build this exciting project from the ground up. We want someone as passionate as we are about our unique Corinthian values who can help us develop a women’s section of the club, manage the women’s first team, and build a backroom team for the long term.

We are looking for a UEFA C Licence-qualified coach, with great local football knowledge and contacts that can help build our squad and staff.

If you want to find out more or would like to apply, send your CV to general manager, Paul Mitchell at [email protected].

Click here to download the full job description.

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ANDY GRAY ANNOUNCED AS NEW MANAGER

​Adamson: No targets, just pure football

Simba Kudyiwa: “I want to have an impact”

Women's First Team Manager Vacancy

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Adamson: No targets, just pure football