Heathens Better Expectation - 13th July
FTL Futbol Hellenic League Premier Division club Flackwell Heath head into the new season with more than the usual hopes and dreams for a campaign better than the last.
There is a genuinely new level of expectation as the fledgling management team set down a marker for themselves and their players. Although they have been in charge since the start of 2009, it was a case of all hands to the pumps for joint managers Matt Flint (pictured) and James Pritchard to keep a young Heathens team in Hellenic Premier - which they did.
Now the horizons have broadened as Pritchard explained. He said: “Last season we finished in the bottom seven, but this year we believe we can be a top eight team. “The key is to get a blend of the good youngsters we have here with some experienced players in certain positions. With my contacts I hope we will have a good squad of the players. I have been talking to plenty of guys and so far for training we have had between 22 and 27 for each session, so it’s promising.”
He added: “We will whittle them down to a squad of eighteen and see how pre-season goes. We have some good tests especially Burnham and Slough in the space of a few days, so we should see how far we have come.”
That test of whether the mix of youth and experience is working is also relevant to the dugout as the management duo will be assisted by the vastly experienced Lawrie Craker. Craker has managed numerous teams, including Walton & Hersham and Marlow, and according to Pritchard will prove an invaluable first-team coach and mentor.
He said: “I’m still playing and Matt is inexperienced, so we needed someone with Lawrie’s experience. He will take an overview and we will look to learn off him. It’s still a learning curve for us, but I for one am looking forward to it. When the opportunity to manage came up last January I was playing at Slough Town, but I decided to go for it. It’s certainly been an eye-opener. Things are different on this side of the fence.”
Pritchard, whose father Graham managed Marlow for a number of years, is confident that with support from the club and fans, and some commitment from the players, the inexorable slide that the Wilks Park club has suffered in recent years can be halted.
