The board of Witton Albion has announced the appointment of Gary Finley as team manager, succeeding Nigel Deeley who left his post yesterday. Finley returns to the club he managed from 2004 - 2005, and will again be assisted by Lee Coathup. Albion stalwart Brian Pritchard has accepted the role of player/coach in the new set up.
The new management team will meet their players on Tuesday when preparations will start for the six-pointer against bottom-placed Ossett Town at the weekend.
In their last spell in charge, Finley and Coathup steered Witton to the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup and the verge of the play-offs after Finley followed John Davison in the Wincham hot seat. This time out, the duo’s brief is to stop a run of nine consecutive defeats and to lift the club clear of the UniBond Premier Division relegation zone.
Commenting on the appointment, Acting Chairman Mark Harris said “during his last spell in charge, Gary built the nucleus of the team which Jim Vince then built upon successfully, so to an extent there is some unfinished business for Gary. For example, it was Gary who brought the likes of Mark Peers, Jon Kennedy and Steve Connors to Witton. However Gary has also managed at a higher level under severe financial constraints which, coupled with spells at Southport and Colwyn Bay, have given him a wide experience of the non-league game, and players.”
“Gary’s teams are highly organized, and will in time follow the Witton Albion tradition of attacking football. In the meantime however, his brief is very simple - to keep Witton Albion in this division. This will mean having to grind out results, and it may not be pretty in the short term. There will be some rebuilding and I know Gary has already identified players he wants to bring to the club. He is also fully aware of the financial constraints that he will be operating under.”
“The decision to relieve Nigel Deeley of his duties was not taken lightly, or unilaterally. Nigel holds - and will continue to hold - a very special place in the heart of all Wittoners. However we cannot afford to fall further behind. We need to become more organized on the field, and start to become a real threat to our opponents.”
Finally! haha
Sounds like a good appointment, although i can’t remember far enough back when Finley was in charge…
I can now get on with my coursework now after constantly checking on here! Lets hope we can see us start picking up a few more points!
Onwards and upwards
I didn’t see that comming!!! Well I suppose we won’t be top of the fair play chart under Finlay but we might show a bit more fight and heart with him in charge.
If he can stop us from going down then he will have done a good job so here’s hoping!
It’s certainly not a name i had been expecting…and i’m sure many Wittoners will be pretty shocked. It’s fair to say that Gary is pretty much a polar-opposite to Nige in terms of personallity etc, and that may be hard for a fair few people to accept in the short term. If it came down to who’s personality was the best then Nige would be England manager! But unfortunatley there is more to it than that.
The players Gary brought in last time (Spike, Griff Jones, McGuire, JK, Connors, Peers, Tommy S, Latham) would all walk into our current side. Hopefully he can find players of that ilk again (in the main these are quality players with a huge hunger to succeed).
I don’t think Gary will have the same relationship with the fans as Nige or JV, so initially there may be some bemusement form certain quarters (understandable - i’m not his biggest fan myself!). However, if he keep the Club in the Prem then i’d gladly marry the guy!!
I thought JV was a fantastic bloke, and he was great to the fans. But we all know how that turned out. If Gary keeps us up then that is enough for me.
Nige is, and will always be, a complete Witton legend in my eyes.
I don’t care if he is “likeable” I don’t care whether he swears, I don’t care if he treats the players and fans like “dirt” as long as he gets results.
It sounds as though a few of you have reservations about the appointment? Forgive me because I dont know of his life story, only that he did ok last time he was in charge. His record at other clubs seems to have been ok, is there something I should know about him?
To be honest atilla the hun would be ok by me if we were to get a mid table finish, or just avoid relegation out of it.
Great to hear Pritch is joining the coaching side, wish nige would have stayed in that capacity, never mind.
Lets see what the next few weeks brings (points I hope).
I think that Finlay may of been all that was left I suppose. I can’t imagine he was 1st choice with people like Tony Greenwood, Steve Waywell etc out of work. I assume a few people must of turned it down or wanted too much money.
I wasn’t Finlay’s biggest fan when he was last here but he’s got a great chance here to prove that he is a good manager. As I said if he keeps us up then he will have done a good job despite how many opposition players and managers he chins!!!
great post WHS. He sounds like the kind of guy we need. Good 2 have pritch coaching too. Hope Millie is still on board, guys a legend. Onwards and upwards, and best wishes to Nige. Gary Finleys red and white army!
I dont think that is what Witton is all about. The past two managers have had good relationships with the fans and I think that has been part of the enjoyment.
I care if he swears and treats the players like dirt, and Im sure everyone else would who helped try and get all the youngsters into the ground on the family days! The fans are told not to swear on those days!!
Isnt this a step back? I believed he was quite an agressive character that was involved in a bust up in the tunnel when he hit a player - can anyone fill the gaps with this story?
I would agree with eli that the board have panicked too quickly!
anton lally was the player involved he had an altercation with a bpa player at half time. a half time that lasted about 40 minutes. Finley and coathup both resigned after that match.
The ref from that match was the very same ref we had on sat against eastwood. he was just as bad then as he is now.
