One of the big managerial moves during the SCEFL summer was Richard Styles leaving the Medway Towns and Lordswood to take over at Tunbridge Wells.
Ahead of the SCEFL kick off this week, Styles has been talking to our Chief Football reporter Mike Green, about the new challenges that now lie ahead of him starting with a trip to Sheppey United on opening day.
“After a pretty good pre-season and three years at Lordswood, I think we’re just about ready for the new challenges,” he admitted.
“The move came as a surprise to a lot of people – I wasn’t looking to leave Martyn Grove but then the opportunity arose, and it all happened from there. It was one of those occasions when things happened very quickly especially in football. I didn’t want to become stagnant and stay at the same place a long, long time without progressing.”
“To want to do something you’ve got to progress, and you’ve got to move forward and that was my main concern. But when the opportunity of somewhere else came up, it was a case of looking at both and weighing up the pros and cons as to which was better – for me and the club – and that was it really and we walked away from Lordswood and took over at the Culvenden.”
“The potential at Tunbridge Wells with all respect to Lordswood was probably one of the main reasons that I moved if I’m honest. I’ve only seen a tiny bit of it so far with regards to the supporters and potential following – I’ve come from a team that haven’t got a big following and will never have a big following to a team that have the most followers in the Kent League and arguably the biggest fan base… it is very refreshing and is something that so far I’m enjoying as so far there hasn’t been any pressure as we’ve had no competitive games, but I’m sure they’ll vent their views when they’re not happy but at the same time, I know it’s my job to make sure that they are happy!”
Wells of course reached the FA Vase Final on 2013 under the guidance of Martin Larkin. But following Larkin’s departure they’ve struggled to match those giddy heights.
Styles told us, “I think it’s fair to say that the club has gone backwards since the Vase Final and the potential they had and being unable to fulfil it. They took the captain on as manager (Jason Bourne) and fair play to him for being there a long time and giving it his all.”
“The powers that be have considered it time for a change and sometimes it’s not a bad thing to bring in someone with no history – I’ve not played for the club, my only history with them is the last six weeks – really we’ve got to build the blocks back up to where they deserve to be and where I want to be and where the club wants to be!”
“That’s black and white where we are and what we want to do – it’s not going happen in the next six months, it’s not going to be a quick fix, it’s going to take time. The foundations are there with the fans, with the ground, with everything – the foundations are there! It’s my job and the club’s job to build them and get it going in the right direction again – three of the last four seasons the club have finished in the bottom five and so ultimately a club like Tunbridge Wells should never be in that situation.”
“We couldn’t have got a much tougher start – away to Sheppey! It won’t be an easy game, but then again, I don’t think that there will be many easy games this year. The way I’m looking at it is that we’ve got a blank canvass on Day One – you don’t know what you’re going to get.”
“We’ve done our bit as much as we can; there’s always some freak results on the opening weekend across every League and I can’t see this weekend being any different, we’ve just got to make sure that we’re not on the end of one.”
“We’ve done a hell of a lot of work in the last six weeks and come a long way. We’ve now just got to get ourselves right and get ourselves ready having prepared for it and really go there to have a go.”
“It’s a tough place to go, but after Saturday, we haven’t got to go there again in the League so as much as it’s a difficult one, it’s a good one to get out of the way first.”
The natural progression was to finish by asking Styles for the teams to look out for in this year’s SCEFL Premier Division.
“You’ve got to be looking at Chatham Town,” he said. “They possibly should have gone up last year with what they were doing after winning the two cups, and what they’ve put in place during the summer I do think that they will have to be the team to beat really.”
“Other than that, Canterbury have got a new boss; Beckenham who are always there or thereabouts; there’s Sheppey who have signed a lot of players – there’s a lot there who could be knocking on the door. And obviously it goes without saying that I want us to finish as high as possible, but at the same time, we’re not throwing weight around here, there and everywhere, what we’re doing is try to do it the right way…”
Picture supplied by Tunbridge Wells Football Club.