Keith McMahon returns to the Isthmian League dug out this weekend… and comes face to face with a club he knows so well!

Following his appointment last week as manager of Whitstable Town, McMahon’s new side face Phoenix Sports at the Belmont this weekend – a club that the new Oystermen boss coaches at youth level and the club that McMahon’s sons both play for!

Speaking to KSN, he told us, “Typical isn’t it that my first game back is against Phoenix and all my friends – which obviously on the day they won’t be!”

“When I was writing my programme notes it was hard to explain as its the club that my two boys play for; I coach one of the youth teams there; they are good friends there who I socialise with – they are genuinely nice people, very much like Whitstable themselves. They are a club who I have a lot of time and would help out massively and would still do as well, but come Saturday, they will be the opposition, and I need to do what is best for Whitstable Town.”

“I’m glad to be back! It feels like it’s been a long time, but I’m over the moon with the club that I’ve come back to. I’ve only been involved with two clubs in twenty years and I’m very passionate to a club and very loyal which I hope is a good fit for them. Anyone who knows me knows that I always give one hundred percent for my club, and that is maybe what tipped things my way.”

“Theres a new committee at the club but I’ve always had a massive soft spot for the Club and the supporters. I’d always said that my next job that I would pick very carefully – I wanted a club in a “proper” town which Whitstable is; I wanted it a little out of the way from where I normally manage because I wanted people who didn’t really know me in the town away from football and I wanted somewhere I could bed down some roots like a family almost like I did when I was manager at Thamesmead Town.”

“With Whitstable I go back in time to when Marc Seager was manager – we were great mates; obviously rivals at the same time! Joe (Brownett) and Tony (Rouse) were there, and I had a good bond with the club. When the job came up and I met the current committee, it was a no brainer for me – they didn’t need to tell me too much; I was sold on what the club’s ambitions are and what I could do with them.”

McMahon takes charge of his first League game this weekend after their scheduled midweek clash with Hastings United was replaced by a delaying Kent Cup semi-final. The new boss told us, “I only met the players on Thursday last week – I saw them at Chichester, and you just have to look at the table and I could easily have sat there saying that they need a lot! Listening to the experienced ones around the squad – like Mark Lane – and the committee, they said that whilst they were depleted, they haven’t been getting the rub of the green… but they’d only played six games!”

“There was a lack of belief and confidence – there was a great squad in there but when I came away from Thursday after training, I said to Steve (Waite) my assistant, that this isn’t as bad as I’d thought, there are some really good players here. We don’t need to go mad and there are a couple of areas that we need to strengthen and if we had gone to Hastings on Tuesday and hadn’t had a chance to bring anyone new in, it really would have been a bit of an eye opener, a free hit maybe – but you don’t want that sort of game when theres only a point on the board.

“Tuesday was a really tough test for us as Gillingham brought a strong young side with players with first team experience and I knew it would give us a good run around. It turned out brilliant for us and we’ve now got Dartford in the Final. It gave me a chance to bring some youngsters in myself and have a really good look at the squad and I was really impressed! The passion they have for the Club and the commitment is simply brilliant!”