First of all I’d like to thank Mark, Barry and the committee for the opportunity to take over from Steve Dormer. Steve is a good guy and helped me a lot. I myself and the club wish him all the best with Fleet Town. For my part Guildford City is a club very close to me personally. I have been brought up in the town and I played for the clubs junior section.
Then I want to thank the Sweeney for their support in all of our pre-season games this season. Whether it was Newhaven or Chessington, you haven’t missed a game which is appreciated by Neil and myself and all of the players. Now the FA Cup is almost upon us and the support for the team is crazy with an estimated 80+ fans coming over to the Isle of Wight to support the lads. I can’t thank you enough and it would be great to see everybody at the Spectrum week, week out.
Over the last 10 weeks or so I’ve been working very hard behind the scenes getting the squad in order and running trials for new players. I moved quickly in recruiting an assistant manager in Neil Grant. Neil had a successful season with Leatherhead Under 21’s and has an impressive background in the game. He’s well respected within the local non-league circle and his experience will only help me and the squad. I’m also delighted that Nemo Adams re-signed with us and I swiftly made him captain for the 17/18 season. Nemo is a player I really rate. He knows the level more than most and is fantastic with the younger players.
As you can imagine I’ve made a lot of new signings but importantly kept some key players from last season. Long serving Tom Booth, fans favourite Darryl Siaw, goalkeeper Luke Badiali, Chris Tancock who made a big impact last season, the skipper Nemo Adams, midfielders Miguel Anderson and Nhoj Witter, and finally forward Marlon Pinder have all re-signed for this season. I’ve brought in a few defenders. Dave Burton has signed from Sutton Common. David is a big strong athletic centre half. Luke Beale has arrived from Westfield. Luke spent seven seasons with Westfield and is hugely experienced at this level. Ben Franklin has also put pen to paper. Ben is a left sided player who has signed from Leatherhead and we hope he has a bright future. In midfield we’ve re-signed Chad Goulter after he had a short spell with Badshot Lea. Fans will remember Chad having spent time with City before. We’ve also signed Louie Downey, Shaun Masterson and Kyen Nicholas all from Leatherhead. They are three quality young players with bright futures. Additionally Josh Coke has signed from Knaphill. Josh is a local lad who can play wide or central and he has good experience for a young lad. Also Nathaniel Williams has returned and is back with City. He was the youngest ever player to score a hat-trick for City and he is a player who stretches defences. In the front line, Kieran Campbell has come in from Redhill, Kieran scored 40+ goals last season to help Redhill with promotion. He is a real number nine and his hold up play and goals will be crucial for us, and he has already hit the ground running. Our last signing was Dan Stewart. Again he is a former City player whose goals helped us avoid relegation in the 14/15 season.
As you can see we have been busy. I want to bring excitement back at Guildford and play football the right way. Your support is always needed. Hopefully we can get attendances up and start turning heads in the town. Once again thank you for my warm welcome and I can’t wait to get started.
All the best
Chris
