Kentish Football 
It's a big job with a lot to be done, says Cray Wanderers new boss Keith Bird
The Wands sacked legend Ian Jenkins, who was committed to his beloved club for 24 years, the last fourteen as manager.
Jenkins took the club from the Kent League to the Ryman Premier League and was renowned for an attacking brand of football and a togetherness within the squad which isn’t replicated often.
But the team struggled this season and at the time of Jenkins’ sad departure at training last Thursday night, Cray Wanderers were rooted to the foot of the Ryman Premier League table with four points form eleven games and have leaked 42 league goals.
The Wands also suffered an early FA Cup exit at the hands of Ryman League Division One South side Faversham Town, who came away from Hayes Lane with a 3-0 win in the First Qualifying Round.
Cray Wanderers chairman Gary Hillman has appointed Bird and his assistant Michael Paye, who have been running the reserve side at landlords Bromley for the past two years.
The club announced the pair’s arrival on Sunday morning, but Bromley boss Mark Goldberg wished the pair luck following Bromley’s 1-0 home win over Burgess Hill Town in The FA Cup Second Qualifying Round on Saturday afternoon.
Bird met the present Cray Wanderers squad on Saturday morning, before taking charge of Bromley’s reserve side for the very last time in the afternoon where an early Gary Elphick own-goal sealed a 1-0 win over neighbours Tonbridge Angels at Longmead Stadium in the Suburban League.
Cray Wanderers chairman Mr Hillman issued a statement on the club website and said: “Keith Bird and Mike Paye currently run the very successive Bromley reserve team set up and I am very confident that they can turn things around for us on and off the pitch as they are both winners.
“Both Mike and Keith have been very successful in life. They have been a management team for eight years and have enjoyed a lot of success at both under 18 level and in senior reserves football.
“Keith has steadily been taking his coaching badges over the years and last season, as well as being the manager of the Bromley reserves, he also worked very closely under Mark Goldberg as part of the first team staff at Bromley, including being part of Bromley’s staff that won the London Senior Cup last season.
“Mike used to play for Cray Wanderers and prior to that was a pro at Charlton Athletic.
“The duo will be joined by coach and physio Michael McDonald who joined their management team last season after meeting Keith when they were both on the same UEFA B licence coaching course.
“I was very impressed with how Keith and Mike see this appointment as a long-term 3-5 year project and although it’s going to be very hard at the beginning with the limited resources and league position they have inherited, I believe they will turn it around and that we can kick on.
“The professionalism and strong organisational skills I have seen from Keith and Mike over the years, together with their relationship with Bromley FC to take advantage of any players they release or make available for loan will be a real asset to us.
“It’s vital that everyone gets a positive attitude back around the club and give Keith and Mike all the support they can.”
Bird, 46, who lives in Orpington and is a very successful businessman, was quick to pay tribute to Jenkins for his commitment to the club.
“I think the first thing to say is, I’ve never actually met Jenko. I think I’ve shook hands with him once at an event,” said Bird.
“I don’t know Jenko. I’ve never really met Jenko. I don’t really know the chap.
“But what I would like to say first of all was anyone who’s played at the club for as long as Jenko did and managed the club for fourteen years – and I think he scored in every season for fifteen years – the man is clearly an absolute legend in the history of Cray Wanderers and I would like to wish Jenko all the very best for the future.”
Bird added: “It’s very sad and difficult when these things happen. I’m not sure what happened before myself and Mike were appointed but I think Jenko deserves a lot of respect for all the time and effort he put into the club over all those years.
“The man is a legend in that respect in my eyes.”
Bird admits his first job in senior first team football cannot be any harder than the one that he is faced with.
“It’s a big job with a lot to be done,” he admits.
“Clearly the team is sitting bottom of the table, having lost nine games in eleven, with a pretty significant negative goal-difference, clearly with the budget which isn’t enough really to play in this league so we’ve got a big, big job to do, not just in terms of keeping the club up, which is what we’ve come here to do, but also figuring out how we make a budget that’s not really big enough to work.
“We’re very busy at the moment as you can imagine talking to a lot of players and assessing what we’ve got and in the next couple of weeks we’ll be looking at hoe we take the club forward.
Bird revealed some good news when he met the present Cray Wanderers squad on Saturday morning.
He said: “We had the lads in on Saturday morning. We had a meeting with the lads and Mike and I went through with them our background and our pedigree of coming through the under 18s at Bromley and managing the reserves for a couple of years.
“I’ve worked very closely with the first team last year under Mark Goldberg. One of the things that we believe in is having a very professional approach with everything around the club both on and off the field and very strong organisational approach to things as well as the way we play and our systems of play and we started to take the players through all of that.
“Tonight we will see them for the first time in training, which again is not going to give us a lot of time because it will be a light session. We can’t train too hard tonight because of the game tomorrow so we’ll start to get a feel for it.
“Tonight will be the first time we’ll see the players on the ball apart from studying videos but that doesn’t give you a whole picture.
When asked whether any of Jenkins’ players have quit the club, Bird revealed: “No is the simple answer to that! No player has said they don’t want to continue because of the change of management.
“In fact I think the general feeling is there’s an utmost respect for Jenko for everything he’s done for the club and the players’ are looking forward in terms of things have got to be done different and have to change.
“No one enjoys going out every week and getting beat by great big scorelines and sitting at the bottom of the table, so all the players are hoping that we can do something different and change where we’re currently are.
“None of the players have said they wanted to leave for that reason. We had one player on loan who goes back this week and we had another player (Leigh Bremner) that was always committed to going to Hornchurch but that all happened prior to our arrival so since our arrival there isn’t anybody who wants to leave at this stage.”
Ironically, the footballing gods have had their say and Bird’s first game in charge of Cray Wanderers is against Bromley in the Kent Senior Cup Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com Second Round on Tuesday night.
“I know. It’s unbelievable,” said Bird. “If I’m honest I’d rather it happen a week after maybe so we can avoided that for two reasons.
“One, Bromley have been very good to us and I really wouldn’t have liked to play them first game as they’ve been a tremendous club to us.
“And secondly it’s incredible tough competition. We sit bottom of the Ryman Premier and they sit second top in Conference South so it couldn’t have been a tougher tie even if we had a strong side.
“Mark Goldberg and Jerry Dolke (Bromley’s owner) have been fantastic about all of this. They have been very supportive.
“It’s a relationship that is very strong. We’re well liked at Bromley. The club has a special part in our hearts and we’re very grateful for the support they’ve given us prior and after our appointment.
“Tomorrow we’re Cray Wanderers now and our focus is Cray Wanderers going out and trying to create an upset.”
Bromley’s record at Hayes Lane this season has seen them win all six of their games and they sit one point below Eastleigh in second place in The Skrill South.
The Ravens can look forward to a home tie against Ryman League Division One North side Heybridge Swifts in The FA Cup Third Qualifying Round on 12 October following their win over plucky Burgess Hill Town at the weekend.
Former Southend United striker Shamir Mullings, 19, scored the only goal, a tap-in in the 20th minute following Ben Swallow’s cut back from the left by-line.
Bromley are clear favourites to progress through to the next round of the Kent Senior Cup, although boss Mark Goldberg revealed he will rest some of his players for the battle of Hayes Lane.
“I think the first thing to focus on is just being competitive tomorrow,” said Bird.
“Cray have got a negative goal-difference of 34 goals so our first priority tomorrow is to really make sure we’re tight and compact.
“Bromley have such fantastic quality and they play a really attractive style of football so our first job tomorrow is to just make sure we put in a professional, well-disciplined organised performance and then if we’re able to take our chances we take our chances when they arrive.”
Visit Cray Wanderers’ website: www.pitchero.com/clubs/craywands
Cray Wanderers v Bromley
Kent Senior Cup Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com Second Round
Tuesday 1st October 2013
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF
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