Features

Gaffer’s Greatest Gaffer: Mike Ford – Denis Smith treated his players like men

Management was always likely to be Evesham United boss Mike Ford’s destiny with the influences he had throughout his childhood.

by
The Non-League Football Paper Team
11 January 2026

Denis Smith in charge of West Bromwich Albion

By Andy Mitchell

Management was always likely to be Evesham United boss Mike Ford’s destiny, with the influences he had throughout his childhood.
Growing up around greats during dad Tony Ford’s playing and managerial career gave Mike the tools he needed to enjoy a stellar career, which featured 500 professional appearances and promotion glory with Oxford United and Cardiff City.
Since moving into coaching and management, Ford has revelled in the play-off era, winning five out of five finals as a player-coach, an assistant manager and three as the gaffer at Oxford City, Banbury United and Ev...

Continue reading...

Access all our premium content from as little as 14p per day!

Already a subscriber to our website? Login

Read our latest news on any of these social networks!

Tackle the News

- Sign Up for our weekly Non-League Newsletter

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.

More in Features

Postponed games have disappeared

FANS’ FORUM WHAT on earth has happened to the results on the Step 3&4 league websites this season? For some strange reason, matches in recent weeks that have been postponed or abandoned – such was the NPL East game between Brighouse Town and Lincoln United on Wednesday night – have...
‘I am The Secret Footballer’ – Dave Kitson ends football’s longest guessing game

For years, football fans played detective. Every new “Secret Footballer” column dropped like a clue. The voice was too inside to be a journalist. Too sharp to be a club statement. Too honest to be anyone with a contract still to protect. Now the guessing is over...
July matches could ease a winter backlog

FANS’ FORUM WITH the weather getting wetter and warmer each year, surely something needs to change in the football calendar. Unfortunately, I fear that the leagues and FA are so loathe to change anything as we continue to battle through a backlog of fixtures at the end of each season....
The Big Interview: Carlisle United’s Charlie Wyke – I’d love one last hurrah for my son

Four years ago, Charlie Wyke suffered a heart-attack during a training session for Wigan Athletic and died for four minutes.