We're not going to cripple the club, insists Warrilow

Wednesday 02nd June 2010

TONBRIDGE ANGELS boss Tommy Warrilow says he will not bankrupt the club as he aims to bring success to the club next season, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Angels boss has been busy this summer, with Jake Beecroft (Rushden & Diamonds), Lee Browning, Danny Walder and Frannie Collin (all Dover Athletic), all signing for the club.

Warrilow today unveiled another two new faces with versatile defender Peter Hawkins, 31, arriving from arch-rivals Maidstone United, and holding midfielder, Alex O’Brien, 33, returning to the club as player-assistant manager.

O’Brien experienced management for the first time last season with Ryman League Division One South side Chatham Town and comes to replace Cliff Cant, who cannot commit to next season through work commitments.

Leaving are Lee Minshull (AFC Wimbledon), Anthony Storey and Jamie Cade (Hastings United), Sam Long, Phil Starkey, Tom Bryant, Marc Cumberbatch and Nick Davis.

“We knew last year that Canty was struggling with work commitments at the latter part,” explained Warrilow, when speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“At the end of the day we just said we’ll see the season out and give it until May and I think the icing on the cake was when we were supposed to meet up last Friday and have a drink and talk about it all and he couldn’t make it because of work!

“We’ve called a line underneath it and we’ve moved on.

“I half mentioned it to Alex because I knew he was contemplating leaving Chatham. I threw it at Alex and he was more than interested - it was a definite yes.

“Alex was my skipper at Leatherhead when I was manager there 12 years ago or whatever it was so he’s not someone new to me. I’ve kept in touch with him, he came to my wedding so he’s one of those sort of mates - one mate out and one mate in.

“The added benefit with O’B is he can play and with the small squad that I’ve got I needed to try and get someone to come and assist me who can play, a bit like Sutton have got Steve McKimm.

“O’B gives me that added benefit of adding to my squad as well.”

Warrilow was delighted to bring Hawkins in from their bitter rivals.

A Maidstone United statement said: “We have tried very hard to persuade Peter to stay but unfortunately we also have to take into consideration the reduced budget we have available this season and ultimately Peter feels it is in his best interests to move on to pastures new.

“Peter was outstanding for us last season and our efforts will now be focused on signing a suitable replacement.”

Warrilow said: “I’ve had a good chat with Peter and he’s agreed to come next season. He’s got a few things to sort out with Maidstone but he’s looking forward to a new challenge and he brings me experience that I lacked last year with the age of my squad and the players I’ve signed so far are young.

“Peter’s CV is second to none. He’s been pro all his life, last year was his first out off full-time football. He’s been at all the top non-league clubs and a pro at Wimbledon and he’s got a nice hat of being able to fill a few positions.”

Warrilow hopes to bring in at least one more player before he and Mrs Warrilow spent a week on holiday in Turkey - but insisted the chairman hasn’t come across a bundle of cash underneath the floor boards at Longmead Stadium.

“I’ve booked a holiday on Saturday, I want everything done by then because it’s been absolutely manic the last few weeks. The wife thought it might slow down when the season’s finished, but I’ve been out more than ever,” said the boss.

“I’m shooting off to Turkey with the wife for a week, there might be a couple more. I find out about one on Friday and I go on Saturday so the other one I will contact before Friday and see what’s happening.”

And speaking about the budget, Warrilow said: “People can say what they want, all these boys have signed deals with me. They got offered much better deals elsewhere. My budget is the same how we finished up last year.

“We had a board meeting last night. We had to cut our cloth. It’s 25% down from when I first walked through the door but it was still s a half decent budget to make a fist of things.

“We’re not pulling up trees but we’ve always said from day one we wouldn’t be in a situation where we couldn’t honour people’s contracts or money and the only thing that happened last year was that awful weather was that 6-7 week period of bad weather that killed everyone.

“We had to address it through releasing people like Rook, Ferguson, Sigere, Dayes, Hamilton and we’ve done that and we’ve batted on.”

“It’s the same structure with the wage, we’ve not gone a penny over and that’s what I’m saying. People can write what they want. If people think we’re going to cripple the club to bring in Frannie Collin and they’re wrong!

“I’ve met Frannie, we wanted Frannie, but I knew if we got Lee Browning and Danny Walder on board, we’d have more than a chance off getting Frannie on board. Sometimes people want to play with their mates and push on and we all want to win things. We’ve been there or there abouts for the last two seasons.

“In Frannie’s case if he wanted money he wouldn’t sign for Tonbridge. He wants to get back to full-time football, obviously Lee Minshull and Leon Legge’s scenario (leaving to sign for full-time clubs AFC Wimbledon and Brentford in the last 12 months) helps that situation.

“I’ll be doing everything I can to push Frannie back into it. It would be a feather in our cap but that’s what Frannie wants and hopefully he’ll get his head down and stay injury free.”

Tonbridge Angels will be one of the heavyweights in the Ryman Premier League next season.

“I’ve said from day one, every season my target will always be to have a play-off spot,” said Warrilow.

“It’s going to be hard this year with some unknown quantities coming into it and clubs who weren’t strong last year will be strong next year.

“I want to set the boys a target. It’s like a job. If you set a target at work it’s difficult or they’ll plod on and put their feet up.

“We’re not in there to make the numbers up. We want to stay in there and bad and be in contention off winning things.

“Last year six points wasn’t a massive amount to miss out in. We just have to make sure we don’t get ourselves in that position next year.”

Visit Tonbridge Angels’ website: www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk