Steve Watt has returned to Hythe Town as manager just months after leaving Reachfields and he’s glad to be back.

Watt has been talking about his “second coming” and admitted, “It was a shame that I had to leave when I did as the Club were in a poor place and James Rogers did a good job to keep the Club in the division.”

“However, things have changed – the Club’s back in a good place – and after conversation between me and the Club, it seemed right to come back!”

“We sat down and discussed a few things and from there it seemed to suit both parties. The Club hasn’t changed that much and it’s very much a rebuilding exercise – we need to add slightly a few little bits going forward, still being as competitive as can be and if I didn’t believe that we could be competitive, I definitely wouldn’t be going back.”

“The Club is a big part of the local community, and the community are a big part of the Club and thanks to the people who work there it’s a great place to be around.”

“But after the COVID years it’s something that we’ve got to get back as it dropped off in recent times as it has everywhere at a lot of clubs.”

“Situations change, but it’s about getting back there… if you look around Kent there are some great clubs and great communities Clubs and I think that Hythe is definitely part of that.”

Watt has named former Sittingbourne boss Darren Blackburn as his assistant and is still hopeful that Nathan Elder will return to the Club as part of his coaching team. “I’ve known Daz a long time,” Watt told us, “I helped him out from time to time when he was at Sittingbourne, and I think he’s a great guy to have at the football club and it was important that no matter what role it was that he was part of the management team.”

“Wherever I would have gone back into football and if Daz was available, I wanted him to be a part of it and he’d have gotten a phone call to come in some capacity, and I’m delighted he decided to come down.”

“He did a good job at Sittingbourne last year – knows the level well and good players – he’s an asset to the Football Club. Everyone you choose to come into a Club, in whatever capacity has to be an asset. Hopefully, Nathan will come back in and return to complete a really strong management team in place.”

Watt is just one of many managers who will start the new season in a new job with as many as eight clubs at one point looking to a change in the hot seat.

“It’s crazy and I’ve never known anything like it,” the new boss said. “I know managers move on at the end of the season, but never to this level so quickly. You see a lot of changes, but not as many as this – you see a change here and a change there with clubs going in different directions.”

“But this season, it’s been a case that a manager leaves one Club and walks straight into another one which I certainly haven’t seen before, but nothing ceases to amaze me in football anymore.”