Jim Ward: I'd like one last go - I've still got unfinished business with football

JIM WARD says he wants one more go at football management after being axed as Ramsgate’s manager back in January.

“It has to be the right club, it has to be somebody who wants to give it a go,” said the 66-year-old, who has been “driving the wife mad,” being at home on a Saturday afternoon.

“I’ve been playing a lot of golf, I’ve been playing golf three times a week.  I’ve been involved in football since the mid 80’s in the management side and I’m missing it, so I’d like one last go. I’ve still got some unfinished business with football.

“We’ve won enough trophies in our time but you’re always looking for the next one.  Me and Danny have won 12, mainly at Ramsgate and Maidstone.”

Jim says he still wants to work with younger brother Danny, 51, in his next role.

“It’s good, we’ve got a good relationship. We play the game the same way, everything about it. We talk about it, we argue, we’re like brothers.  We argue about things but once we make our mind up, we support one another.”

When asked who makes the final decision, Jim replied:

“Nobody really! Generally we both agree in the end. Sometimes it’s Danny, sometimes it’s me.”

Based in Broadstairs, Ward would like to stay as close to home as possible and is keen to manage in the Bostik League.

The only job available at the moment is Ashford United.  The newly-promoted Bostik South side parted company with their double-winning boss Danny Lye last week and appointed their under 21 manager Jason Whitmore in a caretaker role for their past two games.

Ashford United knocked lower-league Redhill out of The FA Cup with a 3-1 win at the weekend, before going down to a 2-0 defeat at league rivals Herne Bay last night in the Kent Reliance Senior Cup First Round.

“I’d like to stay close as home as possible. We need somebody who’s ambitious, the last three club’s that we’ve been at, Ramsgate, Whitstable and Sittingbourne have done great, they never really had enough ambition to go forward. All we were doing was pulling gaps and making the club better and the three club’s we left, we left them in a better state than when we joined them,” said Ward.

Ward says he would prefer a job in the Bostik League but “I would go down to the SCEFL League if it’s the right job.”

Reflecting on the game nowadays, Ward says players look after themselves more and there is more money in the game too.

“The culture of the players has changed. In our day and the game had finished and we had a good FA Cup day or something, I wanted to put a couple of hundred pounds behind the bar for a drink and if we put £50 behind the bar it’s too much!

“People look after themselves a bit better than when I started in management.  The players are aware of their own bodies than in our day, physically they’re more attuned.

“Football wise, it’s the same. You’re right about the money! There’s a lot of money in the game but the money side has never bothered me.  We always got by with what we’ve got. It’s good to have.

“When we were at Maidstone we had as much as we wanted, which was great. That’s why we won the League and came runners-up at Maidstone. It's not the be all and end all, the money thing.”

Ward is also keen to “promote players from within” at his next club and bring through their own players, mentioning that Ollie and Warren Schulz, Lee Minshull, Edd and Stuart Vahid came through at Ramsgate before becoming house hold names.