Erith & Belvedere appoint Del Oldfield: I’m extremely humbled to be offered the opportunity to spearhead what we hope is the emergence of a sleeping giant

ERITH & BELVEDERE have appointed Del Oldfield as their new manager.

 

The Deres appointed Stuart Webb as their interim manager after Owen Jones and his entire squad quit the club owing to a budget cut on Sunday 26 January.

However, the club suffered some heavy defeats during Webb’s four-game temporary reign at Park View Road as the club lost to Lordswood (0-4); K Sports (0-7); Welling Town (2-7) and the writing was on the wall when they were suffered a humiliating 8-1 home defeat to promotion-chasing side Chatham Town last Tuesday night. 

The club parted company with Webb yesterday morning.

Erith & Belvedere are second from bottom in the Sea Pioneer Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table with 19 points from 26 games, level on points with bottom side Crowborough Athletic with 10 games remaining.

Oldfield’s first game in charge is a trip to third-placed side Corinthian on Tuesday night (19:45).

Michael Golding's side are two points adrift of leaders Beckenham Town, with a game in hand and have reached the FA Vase Quarter-Finals and the Kent Senior Trophy Final.

Oldfield’s last two jobs have been to manage the reserve sides at Phoenix Sports and Stansfeld.

“First thing first, I’d like to thank everyone at Stansfeld for being so understanding and supportive of my decision to leave the club at this stage of the season,” said Oldfield.

“If you know me, you know it definitely wasn’t an easy decision to make and I have nothing but respect for everyone there and I wish the club every success in the future.

“I’m extremely humbled to be offered the opportunity to spearhead what we hope is the emergence of a sleeping giant.

“I personally feel that this was the right opportunity at the right time for me and I’m looking forward to getting going.

“We will be working on implementing our strategy for the remaining games and putting in place a structure and stability as we look to move forward.

“Long term, the plan is to improve season on season, nothing more than that really.”

Oldfield leaves Stansfeld in the bottom three in the Andreas Carter Kent County League Premier Division table, having collected four wins and four draws from their 21 league outings and they are four points clear of New Romney, who have a point more than basement side Peckham Town.

A Stansfeld statement said: “The Stansfeld committee would like to thank Del Oldfield for his time at the club and we wish him well in the future.

“We are delighted to announce that current player Perry Holland will be taking over the reigns with immediate effect.”

An Erith & Belvedere statement added: “We are delighted to welcome Del Oldfield as our new first-team manager.

“Del is a highly skilled analytical coach, a forward thinker who possesses great leadership skills.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have him on board and excited for the next chapter in our history.”