My ambition is to become a pro, says 20-year-old Sam Macneil

KENT FOOTBALL UNITED manager Sam Macneil says he harbours ambitions to become a manager of a Football League club within the next twenty years.



Macneil is the youngest football manager in the county at the age of 20 but his side are presently sitting in the bottom five in the Kent Invicta League with two wins from their opening six League games.

They went down to a 2-0 home defeat to Orpington on Wednesday night after keeper Ashley Thorpe was red-carded for bringing down Alex Chambers-Campbell after the striker went past him outside the penalty box.

Orpington had to wait until the final four minutes to grab the three points when winger Lewis Gregory and striker Glenn Brewer beat stand-in keeper, nineteen-year-old substitute striker Billy Robinson.

Macneil said: “I love it.  It’s what I want to do.  My aim - and anyone I work with will tell you - I want to become a pro.  I’m very, very dedicated and ambitious to do that.  I’m very serious about doing it as well.

“People have taken the mick out of me with the way that I try to play football, trying to emulate Barcelona but at the end of the day that’s the sort of football that I like. I’ve always coached by players to play that way.

“My ambition is very, very solid – to become a pro when I’m older.  I really, really want to get there and with my philosophy on coaching and in twenty years’ time when we have a chat when I’m 40 years’ old and a few grey hairs then my philosophy will still be the same.”

MacNeil takes his side to the Ladywell Arena tomorrow to face Lewisham Borough in the London Senior Cup (with Coventry Scaffolding) First Round.

Willie O’Sullivan’s side climbed off the foot of the table following their 2-1 win over Meridian on Wednesday night.

Macneil said: “I went to watch Lewisham play Eltham Palace the other day at Green Court Road. 

“It’s the Ladywell Arena, I know Ray (Simpson) really well, he’s a lovely guy and it was really fantastic talking to him last Saturday with the way things are going.

“They won on 2-1 on Wednesday night against Meridian, which was a good result.

“One thing you know with Lewisham teams are they’re workmanlike, they work hard, they’ll work hard off the ball and on the ball.  Watching them on Saturday I’ll know they’ll want to get in behind us. Tristan Toney for them is a bit of a livewire. We’ll see what they’ve got to offer.”

Meanwhile, Orpington climbed into eighth-place following their win over Kent Football United and Sean Glover’s side welcome Sutton Athletic to Green Court Road in the Kent Invicta League tomorrow.

Glover, 29 said: “It’s a home game for us so we can’t be complacent.   Our home games are important to us and we need to win all our home games regardless of who it is, whether it’s top or bottom, so Sutton’s no different.

“We’ll be looking to test them as much as we tested Kent Football United on Wednesday night.”

Reflecting on their League campaign which has seen his side collect 10 points from their opening 7 games, Glover said: “Indifferent is probably the best word that I can use. We got off to a very good start and we lost our way a little bit after the Phoenix game, losing to Lydd and losing to Crown, which I wasn’t very happy with.

“We’ve come back in midweek and showed that we can actually play and we can perform especially at a late night game so hopefully it will spur us on and we can go onto the Sutton game to better and bigger things.”

When asked what his aspirations are for the rest of the season, Glover replied, “A little bit of consistency would be nice!  I expect to be in the top half of the table. I’m a realist.  I’m not looking to win the League by any stretch so Cup competitions are going to be big for us this year.

“Hopefully we can have a nice run in the Cups, which would be lovely, but in the League staying away from relegation is always the main priority and staying in the League and then hopefully from there build a platform for the season after and move on.”