Tony Russell has been named the new Ramsgate boss and has been talking to KSN about his appointment and his hopes for the new season as the Rams look to make it third time lucky after consecutive Play Off defeats.

In his first interview with us since he was announced as the Rams new boss at the weekend, following the news last week that Ben Smith had left the Southwood club by mutual consent, the former Cray Wanderers and Lewes boss admitted that he’d been taken aback by the speed of his appointment, telling us, “I have been in football long enough now to know that football things happen very quickly and the appointment happened very quickly and has been a whirlwind since it happened to be honest.”

“I haven’t really had chance to think about it too much as it’s been manic – I’ve sat in this seat for four hours or more before speaking to you, just talking to the current squad – I thought I’d spoken to them all, but I hadn’t and I’m still trying to talk to all of last year’s squad as well as talking to new players – it’s been hectic and will probably be like that for the next few weeks.” 

“The reaction that I have received has been interesting as you have to understand that Ben’s departure came as a shock to a lot of people.”

“Just a few weeks ago, it was announced that he was going to stay – he had had conversations with the boys about the forthcoming season and I think they have been just as shocked as I was when I got the phone call!”

“You have to appreciate, which I am very mindful of, that players get close to managers and whilst some will like managers more than others, I have to be mindful that it has been a shock for all of them and there’s been a bit of a restructure within the Club as well that I’ve had to navigate as well.”

“I am trying to do things as respectfully as I can and do it in my own way, which has always been honest, open, and upfront.”

“That is not always nice to hear, but it is the quickest way to get clarity for everyone and then everyone can make a decision if it works for them and if it does not…”

“There will be one or two leaving which is simple for financial reasons as we must cut our cloth and that will be the case. But I think as a whole, the boys who were staying on the list that I was given, I think there’s just a couple who will not be, but that’s football!” 

“I have to be respectful when I say that I think Ramsgate from afar had a reputation of bringing in really good players or buying players, so I think that the easiest thing to say was that the Club had a lot of money and were throwing it about.”

“But I think that that is something that he (Chairman – James Lawson) wants to get away from and highlight what amazing work the Club does in the local community as well.”

“He told me about the growth of the youth teams in the last three or four years and how they’ve expanded in the Community as he’s very passionate about the area as he believes that there are a lot of young people in the area not getting the things that they need, so he’s come up with different ways to help them by bringing the Community together which is brilliant!” 

“One of my favourite things about Non-League is the characters you meet at the grounds – not just the people in the board room, the people like the head of security who introduced himself with the firmest handshake that I have ever had.”

“The whole place has a real good community feel and driving home with Joe Vines (who will again be Russell’s number two as he was at Cray and Lewes), everything happened so quickly that excitement would not be the word that I would use initially as there’s so much work to do.”

“We were both buzzing, and we will go in and hopefully we can have an impact, not just on the pitch, but also help structure things that will help everyone and plant seeds that can be harvested in years to come.” 

“Having Joe alongside is very important as he’s a sound board for me. There is a lot going on, so I can share the load with him – we have got to go through the whole squad and sit and talk with them, sort pre-season, sort the schedule out and do the session plans.”

“We have got to recruit new players as they are back in around ten days – we are being pulled everywhere and my phone has not stopped, and being able to share that load with Joe is great.”

“I was only talking to another manager over the weekend and he told me that he came out of football after being let down by the people around him – that’s one thing I have always done, have good people around me like Joe and Nathan White who are both excellent at what they do and I am very fortunate to have them both with me for the new job!” 

The new Rams boss though was in no doubt about the task ahead as the Club look to make it third time lucky and get promoted to the Isthmian Premier Division.

“You can’t line up any team and say that they’re going to be strong before the season starts, because if you look at our division, Ashford have just been taken over with new owners; Margate have got some new investment; Burgess Hill have as well as they’ve just signed one of my old Lewes players offering a really good deal and they got a few Whitehawk players too!”

“Everyone is strong in different years – Sittingbourne will be strong as they have a good manager and he’s built a foundation and signed some really good players, so you can get caught up in things and think about everyone else, but we are going to focus on ourselves and we understand that if we get it right, who knows…” 

“I’ve managed in Step Four for five seasons and I’ve got to the Play Offs twice and won it twice – that’s North and South – so my record is pretty good in step Four and hopefully I can continue that at Southwood – it will be tough, but at the moment we have to be focused on getting the players we want in as quickly as possible!”