Speaking to the chairman and the board, they’re ambitious but realistic, which is exactly the sort of challenge and project I was looking for, says Glebe's newly-appointed manager Harry Hudson

GLEBE newly appointed manager Harry Hudson says he wants to galvanise the club with his exciting brand of football.

 

The Chislehurst-based club appointed the former Croydon and Whyteleafe manager on Saturday 12 June, while his former club Whyteleafe announced just two days later of their sad resignation from the Isthmian League due to issues with their landlords of their Church Road ground.

Hudson has appointed Mark Dacey as his assistant manager and his coaches will be Dan Hogan and Adam Fleming.  Danny Rose comes in as goalkeeper coach while Carly Payne remains at the club as head physio.

“Whenever we’ve played against Glebe, I’ve always thought the club had a lovely community feel,” Hudson told the club website.

“Speaking to the chairman (Rocky McMillan) and the board, they’re ambitious but realistic, which is exactly the sort of challenge and project I was looking for.

“I think the club has done the hardest bit, which is the youth section, then really getting the first-team right, to bring the club forward.

“It’s at the point where I think it can really kick on. That’s what came across with the ambition of the board so that was really attractive.

“Location wise, it’s good, pitch is fantastic.  They are really important factors for the style we want to play.

“Once I met with Rocky and the board, we were very aligned with what we wanted to do and that will make for a very good working relationship.

“We want to have a successful season and will be looking to achieve on all fronts including The FA competitions too, which I’ve always enjoyed personally as a manager and have a good record in them, touch wood.

“The FA Vase is very interesting but generally we’re looking to be as successful as we can in all competitions.

“For the league, there’s no doubt that Chatham Town, Sheppey United and Tunbridge Wells are the three big hitters and they will be the ones to try and beat.

“We’re at the stage in year one where we want to mould the squad and get the style of football right, to show a pathway from the junior section, which is really important here and is fantastic, it’s really thriving.

“We want to show a style and brand of football which will bump the crowds up hopefully so that people will want to come and watch.  That the younger players can see the pathway from under 6s all the way through to the first team, to keep that real community feel.

“So harness and development, that relationship, have a go on all fronts and see how successful we can be but there are some serious teams in this league who are looking to get out of it so I will expect them to be difficult to dislodge.”

Hudson has revealed that he has signed 10 or 11 players for the forthcoming Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division campaign, which gets underway on Saturday 31 July 2021.

“As with any manager, you sort of have a nucleus which you try and speak to.  I think we will have a really good spine,” said Hudson.

“We will look at the next seven or eight places in the next few weeks of pre-season. I will certainly say to the fans’ watch this space in the next week or so, where we will be announcing some signings, which will be exciting for the club.”

Glebe kick-off their pre-season campaign with a double header on Saturday 10 July.  They welcome Tony Russell’s Lewes to Foxbury Avenue for a 13:00 kick-off, before playing Epsom & Ewell a couple of hours later.

“Quite often in pre-season, if you want to look at players you think you know what you have and then you’re maybe only giving players half a game here or there, so the idea of the double header, by that point, we’d have had four training sessions, with the opportunity to give players a good 60-70 minutes or even longer, then we will be making a distinct cut down of the squad size after that day.”

One thing is for certain is that everybody involved at this level of football, the ninth-tier of English football, want the season to finish and not declared null and void or curtailed, like the previous two.

“It would be amazing,” said Hudson.  “Everyone connected to football has missed a full season, every manager across the country, no matter what level, all of us have done the hard work of pre-season and starting the season but never really got to see what the work could culminate in.

“I hope for everyone’s sanity we just get through a full season. If we can keep rolling out the vaccine then I’m hopeful that will be the case.

“When we talk about expectations and what we want to try and achieve, realistically it will just be great o have a full completed season of football, for everyone’s mental wellbeing as well as the physical side of being involved with the football, so let’s just hope we can manage to achieve that!”

Hudson, like Russell, plays an eye-catching brand of passing football on the deck and Glebe fans will certainly get their money’s worth this coming campaign.

“Hopefully, the style of football will be something of interest. We’d like to increase the fans that come through the gates,” said Hudson.

“Continuing to engage with the youth section of the club and bring them to matches and really make them feel a part of what the first team is, and I hope we can play an exciting brand of football, which isn’t just there to look good. It’s to get results as well. I’m really keen we try and galvanise this club and move it forward.”

Visit Glebe’s website: www.pitchero.com/clubs/glebefc