Warrilow pens 18-month contract to stay with Angels

Saturday 26th December 2009

TONBRIDGE ANGELS have today tied down manager Tommy Warrilow to an eighteen-month contract, writes Stephen McCartney.

Warrilow left Horsham (where he was assistant manager to John Maggs) two November’s ago, and within his first two months in charge at Longmead Stadium, produced the club’s greatest ever result - knocking giants Oxford United out of the FA Carlsberg Trophy in a first round replay.

Warrilow guided the club to their highest ever position last season, finishing in third place behind promoted sides Dover Athletic and Staines Town (who went up via the play-off lottery), but the Angels fell to Carshalton Athletic in the semi-final lottery.

But the club were rocked by the shock resignations of chairman Nick Sullivan and vice-chairman Garry Pass during the summer, and Warrilow was forced to slash the wage bill with many players either leaving or staying with the club on reduced terms.

Steve Churcher, the club’s new chairman, and people that have run the club in earlier years, have taken over the reigns and Mr Churcher announced today that the club had agreed a deal with Warrilow, who put pen to paper following today’s controversial 2-2 home draw against second-placed side Hastings United.

In a statement issued by Mr Churcher today, he is pleased to have secured Warrilow’s future.

“Obviously, the upheaval we had at the start of the season meant that Tommy was unable to retain the fine squad of talented players he had assembled.

“Nevertheless, we all believe that we have sufficient quality in our current (smaller) squad, which is still capable of reaching this season’s play-off’s, despite the playing budget being less than it was two years ago!”

Today’s draw with Hastings means the Angels have now gone five league games without a win, but Warrilow, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk today, says he is pleased that the club have kept their faith in him.

“It was nice for the club to sit me down and go through it when we’re not having the best of times,” said Warrilow.

“It’s easy to offer deals when we’re going well, but we’ve lost three on the spin and they’ve turned round and really shown me some loyalty and pay back for me hanging around when everyone thought I was going to go as well.

“I’ve been in football a long, long time and I don’t think I’m the reason that we’re not winning the games. If we played like we did against Bilericay every week then I would be concerned, but we haven’t and again today we’ve just seen a case that we’ve drawn where really we’ve dropped two points.”

Warrilow’s side are presently in 12th place in the Ryman Premier League table after 20 games - with seven wins and five draws.

The Angels are only four points adrift of the play-off zone - or five points clear off the relegation zone.

But Warrilow is looking up, rather than behind his shoulder, and spoke about his aspirations for their remaining 22 league games.

He said: “We just have to get a run together and try and shut the gap up. Any team that does that will start rising up the table.”

Visit Tonbridge Angels’ websites: www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk & www.tonbridgeafc.co.uk/forum

Margate v Tonbridge Angels
Ryman Premier League
Tuesday 29th December 2009
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Hartsdown Park, Hartsdown Road, Margate, Kent CT9 5QZ