We want to go one better, says Erith & Belvedere boss Micky Collins

ERITH & BELVEDERE manager Micky Collins says he wants his side to go one better and clinch the Kent League title this season.



The Deres finished ten-points behind promoted champions Herne Bay as runners-up last season and Collins has strengthened his squad this summer.

Goalkeeper Michal Czanner, defenders Scott Whibley and Drew Crush and striker Carl Cornell have all departed Tunbridge Wells to sign for the Park View Road club.

Box-to-box central midfielder, Sam Phillips, has arrived from Crowborough Athletic, despite spending a huge chunk of his career at Culverden Stadium, while injury prone striker, Richmond Kissi, has arrived from Sevenoaks Town.

“We’ve strengthened the squad.  We certainly haven’t stripped it out.  There’s nearly all the faces that were there last season who finished the season are still with us,” revealed Collins.

“We’ve brought in a few new ones. Richmond Kissi has signed for us from Sevenoaks Town, but Richmond has an ankle injury and hopefully he’ll be training with us on Thursday night and he’s a couple of weeks away from being fully fit.

“We’ve brought in Drew Crush, Scott Whibley, Michal Czanner and Carl Cornwell, who have all come in from Tunbridge Wells and what I’ve seen from them so far they’ve really strengthened the squad and that’s what we wanted to do.

Collins added: “We finished runners-up last season and there were times during the season when we were thin on numbers.  We don’t run with a big budget at all, contrary to popular belief, so we had to bring players in who wanted to do well for us, who aren’t money orientated.

“We’ve got a fantastic squad. I look at the squad on paper and there’s 18, maybe 20 players and we all go into the season and everyone’s buzzing for it at the moment.

Slovakian born keeper Czanner, who has played for the likes of Otford United, Tonbridge Angels, Maidstone United, Hastings United and Tunbridge Wells, is seen as the current number one at Park View Road.

Collins said: “Richard Stroud has been with me for two seasons and has done extremely well for us, but again we needed strength-in-depth.

“Stroudy got married a few weeks ago and he goes on his honeymoon and he misses the start of the season.

“It was important for us to bring in another number one keeper.  Michal Czanner comes with vast experience. He hasn’t had first team football massively last season at Tunbridge Wells for one reason or another and we’ve given him that opportunity. 

“His credentials speak for themselves and it’s up to Stroudy to come back from his honeymoon and try to fit back into the side, which I’m sure he will try his hardest to do.”

Collins spoke about the players who have all left Tunbridge Wells.

He said:  “They all bring different things to the table.  I’m not going into what happened at Tunbridge Wells as it’s none of my business. They believe in what we’re trying to achieve.  Hooley Cornell plays a certain way and we’re going to adapt our system to accommodate him and also Scott Whibley and Drew Crush are both areas we needed to strengthen because we lost Richie Davies to a big part of the season, which was a massive blow to us.

“Sam Phillips is someone I’ve eyed for the last couple of seasons to get him on board and now he has.

“They’ve adapted really well, settled into the system so really well and I’m so impressed with them over the last couple of games – like the rest of them.

“Everybody has worked really hard with us during pre-season.  John Wilfort has put on a really tough pre-season for them and they’ve all come up well.”

Collins revealed former Charlton Athletic and Bromley player Wilfort will continue his role as player-coach.

He said: “John will stay on the pitch. He will play for as long as he possibly can and as long as he’s fit enough to do that he’ll continue to play.

“He’s been with me since day one and he’s a really close friend of mine and as long as he keeps performing he will keep his shirt.  Unfortunately he’ll miss the start of the season through suspension – which is unlike him!

“He’ll stay part of it. He’s a senior face.  We’ve got a good spine of senior players in the side now with some youth and experience, which is the right blend at our level.”

Erith & Belvedere have won both of their pre-season games so far – a 3-0 win away to Warlingham and 3-1 away to Kent Invicta League side Rusthall at Jockey Farm at the weekend.

But despite beating two lower league sides, Collins says results at this time of the season aren’t important.

“Results don’t mean anything,” he said. “It’s all about just getting minutes and getting the boys prepared, ready for the season ahead.

“Rusthall were a good little side on Saturday and tested us to the full but we’re quite strong but we managed to get the win.”

Erith & Belvedere are looking for a decent crowd for the visit of newly-promoted Blue Square Bet (Conference) Premier neighbours Dartford on Tuesday night.

Collins is relishing the game against one of his former clubs.

Collins said: “Massive night for me personally, former club, had some great times there even though it was one moment it was a dark time when we folded and then came back.  The fans were amazing and the people still involved there have done an amazing job to get them where they are now.

“It will be nice to catch up with some old faces tomorrow night.”

The Darts have defeated their Kent League neighbours VCD Athletic 3-1 last Thursday and goals from trialist striker, Donovan Simmonds and midfielder James Rogers sealed a 2-0 win at Thamesmead Town at the weekend.

Collins said: “I don’t look at opposition when it comes to pre-season friendlies. We look at ourselves and what we’re going to get out of it and what we’ll get. What we’re hoping to get out of it, hopefully, is a really good run around.

“We’d like to think we’d try to stay in the game for as long as we can. We don’t know how they’ll set up.  We’ll just look at getting our players minutes and getting through the game ok.”

Ian Jenkins brings his Cray Wanderers side to Park View Road on Thursday evening.

The Wands have lost some key players this summer and were defeated 3-2 by Kent League side Beckenham Town in their only warm-up game so far.

Collins said: “I think it was last season we played Cray in a pre-season friendly and it was a good game on the night, but again it’s irrelevant. Cray will play players, like Dartford will tomorrow. It’s literally just about getting minutes.

“The fantastic thing about clubs at a higher level is that they’re willing to come to us. Hopefully they’ll bring some fans through the door and brings us extra revenue, which is fantastic, especially at Dartford with the level they’re at now.

“It’s really important for lower clubs that we get people through the turnstiles and we really appreciate all their efforts to come and give us friendlies.

Collins said his aspirations are to clinch the Kent League title this season with a settled squad.

The club are well-known for slashing their budget after Christmas and changing their entire squad as a result.

“Most teams in the Kent League will have a massive change around of faces,” said Collins.

“Herne Bay and Hythe previously were all successful and Maidstone prior to that and Whitstable as well because they managed to keep the same squad for two or three seasons consistently.

“With money restrains and the way football is now, it’s difficult to do that.  We’ve managed to do it and we look like we’re going into the new season with new faces instead of stripping it out each season and starting again.  That’s how most Kent League clubs do it – they have to try and get players in, some who play for nothing.

“Every club will be totally different probably to what they were last season.

“Well, obviously we want to go one better.  Fifth in my first season and runners-up in the second. We’d love to go and win it but we know how tough it is to get out of the Kent League. We’ve made no bones about that. It is a really tough league to get out of.

“It was an immense job that Herne Bay done last season to get out of it last year and the FA Vase run that they put together as well. To get anywhere near to what they’ve achieved will be fantastic especially as we run on an extremely low budget.

“You need a strong squad. You get injuries in the Kent League, you lose players through holidays and work commitments but you need to have a basis of sixteen players minimum that you need to call upon when things can become tough and it’s a Tuesday night and you’re a long way away and you can call upon a strong squad to go down there and compete.

“If you haven’t got that strength-in-depth it’s too tough to go on and win the title.

“We’ve got that strength-in-depth that last year we never had.”

Visit Erith & Belvedere’s website: www.erithandbelvederefc.co.uk

Erith & Belvedere  v  Dartford
Pre-Season Friendly
Tuesday 17^th July 2012
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY