Guildford City Football Club are almost one week into their close season but for the team management there is barely a break as they soon turn their thoughts towards pre-season which will commence in little more than a months’ time. With that in mind manager Chris Balchin and assistant Tristan Rees has announced two new additions to their coaching team for the new season in the form of Scott Kemp and Suj Khera. Both are Guildford based and until recently they were the joint management team at Burpham FC. Both Kemp and Khera are experienced FA licensed coaches holding the UEFA B licence.
Kemp played youth football for Farncombe, Guildford Saints and Godalming Town Youth before having trials for a number of professional clubs. He subsequently played senior football for Woking , Godalming Town, Farnham Town, Staines Town, Windsor
& Eton, and also both Surrey Police and England Police. In addition to playing Kemp has a passion for coaching and over the years has worked at a range of clubs from Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea, through to Guildford Saints, AFC Brooklands and Burpham. He has also coached overseas in the NSCAA at Rice & Houston Universities. When asked about his new role at Guildford Kemp said “I have a real passion to develop players and am looking forward to working at my home town Club. Suj and I have seen many City games this season and I firmly believe that we will be able to bring something extra to the table that will assist manager Chris Balchin to achieve the objectives he has set with the talented squad he has assembled.” Khera meanwhile initially hails from West Yorkshire where he played for Leeds Schools and briefly Farsley Celtic. He has however now lived in Guildford for 23 years where he played for clubs in the Guildford & Woking Alliance and Surrey Intermediate Leagues. Khera has since coached and managed at clubs including Surrey Police FC, Emmanuel, Brooklands FC and Surrey University Women’s FC. He shares Kemp’s desire to assist his local senior club and is looking forward to the new challenge.
End of Season Presentation Event: Please come and join us for our annual awards evening. This year the event is on Saturday 19 May at the Woodbridge Hill Club in Guildford. Start time is 7.30pm and there is an entry of £5 payable on the night. This is always a great way to round off the season in the company of fellow City folk. There will be awards for Supporters’ Player of the Season, Manager’s Player of the Season, Players’ Player of the Season, Young Player of the Season, Club Person of the Year and Club Golden Boot. There will also be music and a buffet.
Next season: The Combined Counties League has announced that the new league season will commence on Saturday 4 August 2018. The Extra-Preliminary Round of the FA Cup is the following week on Saturday 11 August. As usual a raft of pre-season friendlies are being arranged and the programme for these matches will be announced in the next few weeks.
