My players would benefit from full-time training, says ambitious Dolby - EXCLUSIVE

Sunday 27th May 2007

Tonbridge Angels manager Tony Dolby has an ambition - to lead the club into full-time football, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Angels finished their Ryman Premier League campaign in eleventh place last season, and last night announced that star striker, Jon Main, 26, has signed a new one-year contract to stay with the progressive Kent club.

DEAL: Tonbridge Angels manager Tony Dolby (right) has signed 44-goal striker Jon Main on a new one-year contract
Photograph courtesy of Dave Couldridge - www.tonbridgeafc.co.uk

Chairman Nick Sullivan announced the deal in front of over 100 people at the club’s presentation night at the Betterview Longmead Stadium, and with over 200 players on the club’s books, Dolby believes the club must take the bold step towards full-time football to maximise their potential.

Dolby, 34, who made over 50 appearances as a professional player at Millwall, before his release from the South London club in May 1997, moving into non-league football with Welling United, believes his current Tonbridge Angels squad will improve with full-time guidance.

“I’ve only been in charge for three season’s now, and there’s obviously room for improvement,” Dolby said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk last night.

“One thing people don’t realise, certainly fans and people in the media, etc, they just don’t realise how frustrating it is, because we don’t get these guys, who’ve got full-time jobs.

“We get these guys for a couple of nights a week and my ideal would be to work with individuals for an hour before working on team play, before working on tactics, formations, set-pieces, sections of teams.

“There’s just not enough time in the day to do it. A lot of the things that we do is done verbally, talking during conversations. We’re talking about things but there’s nothing like re-creating situations on the training pitch and there’s only a certain amount you can do of that.

“One thing I’ll be aiming to do better this year is to improve the one-to-one coaching, certainly the units.

“We’ve worked a lot this year on tactics, formation and team play, and I think that showed in some of the performances we had.

“But individually we need to drag 15, 20% more out of each player and in order to do that, you have to work continually on them and they have to take the initiative themselves to be forward in trying to improve their game.

“And if they can do that and we can cover that up without over doing it with the training, because it is very hard, I’m sure we will get better performances.”

Whether Dolby fulfils his dream of managing a full-time outfit, following in the footsteps of Ebbsfleet United boss Liam Daish, is another matter, as big finance has to be pumped into the club to pay players 52 weeks a year, whilst most non-league contracts are for the league season only.

“It’s not really for me to say (but) obviously my ideal scenario would be to work with individuals on a daily basis, there’s no question about that,” said Dolby.

“That’s why full-time (players) are what they are, and that’s why players can achieve what they achieve.

“The ideal and the reality are just something you’ve got to deal with and I think the reality is that we have to appreciate we are not going to get the finished article out there week in, week out, because we’re not able to work on them for the lengths of time that we (need).

“If we can see a steady improvement, and we get the club’s backing, the chairman’s backing and the fans’ backing, and they appreciate what you’re trying to do and the way you’re trying to do it, then the club can go forward at a steady progress.

“We’ve seen it this year, smaller clubs have gone on and in the past it’s happened.

“There’s no reason why a club like Tonbridge can’t end up being full-time, climbing up the league’s.

“There’s no reason why we can’t emulate other club’s that have been as successful as they have.

“Obviously (being full-time) is what I want to be. That’s why I’m in the job and I have remained that ambitious to keep my interest going.”

TERMS

www.kentishfootball.co.uk grant permission for Tonbridge Angels Football Club to publish this EXCLUSIVE article on their official club website and match day programme - and the same goes to other Kent football clubs that play in the Ryman League.

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