Ferkins brings his trusted team with him to Greenwich Borough - EXCLUSIVE

GREENWICH BOROUGH were the first Kent side to report back to pre-season training today, as new manager Steve Ferkins prepares for the new season, writes Stephen McCartney.

Ferkins, a painter and decorator who lives locally in Bermondsey, took the reigns at the end of last season, replacing trio Phil Miles, Terry Malin and Ray Bagnell.

And it’s all change at the Harrow Meadow club with last season’s squad moving onto pastures new and Ferkins bringing in his own management team and players.

This will be 51-year-old’s first role as a first team manager, having managed the reserve sides at Carshalton Athletic, Croydon Athletic - and last season - Corinthian-Casuals.

He will be assisted by Jim Bajeux, someone that has followed him at those three clubs, working together for the past fifteen years.

Gary Pascoe (reserve team manager), Peter Coles and John Earle (under 18s) and the club’s new secretary Scott Wilson, arrive en-block from the Surrey amateurs.

In his first ever EXCLUSIVE interview with www.kentishfootball.co.uk, Ferkins admitted the Greenwich Borough job was too good to turn down.

“I was only reserve team manager at Corinthian-Casuals and there were rumours that there was people from Woking coming in to take over the reserves,” he said.

“I knew the Greenwich Borough job was coming up, applied for it, and was successful.

“I met the chairman a few times and we got on very well. He has the same ideas and views as myself and hopefully we can take Greenwich Borough to greater heights.”

Ferkins, meanwhile, cannot wait to get his teeth into the job.

“They had a reasonable success last year, maintained their midtable position,” he said.

“I come from Bermondsey so know about the club’s traditions and hopefully we can take the club to a different era and take it further.

“We’ve installed an under 18 side now and we’ll increase that to under 15s and under 16s to get more youngsters involved in the area and look for the first team in the future.”

Ferkins revealed that he’ll be bringing in his contacts from his previous three clubs.

“We’ve got a number of players coming from our reserves at Corinthian-Casuals,” he said. “We’ve got a few from our Croydon Athletic and Carshalton background but most of them come from south London.

“Most of them come from Dulwich and Peckham and players we’ve taken around to the Surrey clubs.

“I’ve got none of the former Greenwich players. I was talking to the chairman this morning and five or six of them have joined Croydon (including striker Mohammed Baddar) and possibly one to Thamesmead but that was always going to happen.

“We’ve left the door open for them but it doesn’t look like too many. As far as we’re aware most of them have left.”

Ferkins has set his side targets for next season, adding: “They ended up eighth (last season) so obviously we’d like to better that if possible.

“First year will be a honeymoon period and hopefully we can see what we’ve got in front of us and aim for at least the top five if we can.”

“We’ve started pre-season today, we’ve got our own views on things. Next season at the moment we’ve got 24-26 players that we’ve invited down.

“We don’t want to be an overly big squad but we want to bolster the reserve side with under 18s. We don’t want to go over the top, an eighteen-man squad for the first and second team.”