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You may, by now, be aware that Jon Brogden has decided to step sideways and take a break from front line playing matters after 13 years
as both assistant and latterly 1st team manager; that after playing since the age of 14; a 28 year stint...... up to now! Jon played no small part in the Cub's very successful period under Darryl Hall and since taking over as 1st team manager has, for 2 seasons, continued to make Whaley a force to be reckoned with by the best in the Cheshire League.
But this certainly isn't goodbye! Popular and well respected, not least by current Chair Steve Rampley; the Committee & playing staff, Jon (and assistant Mat Baldwin) and will continue to play a very active role working with the new Management Team/Committee having a significant input into all aspects of running the Club.
This wasn't an easy decision for Jon to take, but on balance he felt the time was right to take make a change with a view to moving the Club forward. Change isn't always easy to accept but the Club feels that the new management team is the right combination with the right outlook to fit in nicely at Whaley. Jon wants "all the playing staff to continue to show the new management the kind of support they've shown me, I'm not going anywhere so I will be very disappointed if we end up taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back; this is a great opportunity for all the players to progress....... we want to add to the squad and strengthen the Club not to change everything".
Meet The New Management Team:-
Ian Coll started his senior playing career as a Goalkeeper at Leeds United & Manchester City before playing in the Semi-Pro Leagues with Altrincham, Droylsden, Winsford, Glossop & Maine Road.
A former Whaley resident Ian moved into management at Cheadle Heath Nomads (Linotype) and achieved Lancashire & Cheshire League and Cup success prior to taking them into the Mid-Cheshire's 2nd Division to win the League and Cup double in the first season.
After a short spell as New Mills assistant Manager Ian took over as 1st Team Manager at Wilmslow Sports in the East Cheshire League again with success in League and Cup before taking over at Styal FC for the previous three seasons.
Nick played at Fulham for 6 years before joining Macclesfield Town, Congleton Town and finally Trafford FC; he is now an FA qualified coach. Subsequent to playing he went on to manage Wilmslow Sports Juniors where ultimately he lost 8 of his U16 players, in a highly successful team, to pro Clubs before moving up into Wilmslow's senior management as Ian's assistant. Nick moved to Styal with Ian, and with Antony Cummings having finished playing at Wilmslow also joined the management team, where Nick took over as 1st Team Manager when Ian missed a season working abroad.
Ian, Nick & Antony have spoken at length to Jon Brogden and Steve Rampley. Ian says "We have watched the current squad quite a few times (1st and reserves) and think it's very strong; we don't need to make wholesale changes at all and don't intend to rock the boat! We can see there's a great spirit here and if we can strengthen the 1st team squad by adding 2 or 3 players then I think we can improve the team’s consistency but to do that it's very important that we retain ALL the current players. We want to promote from within whenever possible and so the local reserve team players are very important in that respect; I'm looking forward to meeting the full senior squad at pre-season"
Pre-Season Programme:-
Saturday 4th July 12.00 - 13.30 Training on the AGP
Subsequent Wednesdays Training 7pm as usual unless CFL games
Saturday 11th July - Edgerton FC
Saturday 18th July - Old Altrincham FC
Saturday 25th July - Dukinfield Town
Saturday 2nd Aug - Liverpool FC
Saturday 8th Aug - CFL commences
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