Pic: Rushall Olympic FC
RUSHALL OLYMPIC boss John Allen knows he'll have no excuses and nobody to blame if the Pics under-perform in the Evo-Stik NPL Premier next season.
Forget ‘the board won't let me sign this player' or ‘we've not got the budget to compete'. Why? Because Allen is also the chairman at Dales Lane!
It's an arrangement often looked down on in Non-League, but Allen, who has been at the club for 18 years, is confident he can make it work.
He's by no means a managerial rookie, having previously been in charge of Rushall for ten years, taking the club into the Southern League before moving upstairs at the end of the 2005-06 campaign.
The tracksuit is now back on after the applications to replace outgoing manager Richard Sneekes failed to set his pulse racing.
“After Richard moved on, we tried to get in a new manager, but frankly the applications, though there were a number of them, didn't live up to our expectations,” Allen, pictured above left with Gary Neville, told The NLP.
Involved
“I've been with the club for 18 years and we've been very fortunate with the managers we've had. There was a particular name we were after that we missed out on, so I decided to give it a go myself.
“Not much has changed from ten years ago. Players all think they're worth more than they are, but it's always been like that!
“I've not been involved in pre-season for a long time and being a manager is something I've really missed. I only gave it up due to a health problem.
“I won't be having any fall-outs about the playing budget and I won't be complaining when we lose! I'm in charge of it all, so it's down to me.”
As well as keeping a large chunk of last season's side, Allen has brought in Sutton Coldfield pair Joel Kettle and Aaron Forde, veteran keeper Jose Veiga from Redditch, Leamington striker Daniel Dubidat and Stan Mugisha from Chasetown.
Rather than play down the chances of one of the league's smaller clubs, Allen is clear in his and the Pics' intentions – he wants to challenge.
With former Hednesford Town manager Bernard McNally as his assistant and ex-Halesowen and Sutton Coldfield man Trevor Burroughs as first-team coach, the boss is confident they have the right ingredients to enjoy a successful campaign.
“We're not the biggest club and we're not the best supported, but we're in this league because we work hard and are constantly looking to improve on and off the park,” Allen added.
“We've got around a dozen players signed so far and the majority from last season are still with us.
“We finished tenth last season and, with the quality of players we had, we should have finished higher. We would have done had it not been for all the long trips we had towards the end.
“The budget we have is probably middle of the road for this league but we'll give it our best shot. The small band of people I have around me work tirelessly for the club and I'll be devastated if we're not challenging for honours next season.”
