It is with regret and a heavy heart that I will be resigning from my role at Dunstable Town Football Club. I have had to make this tough decision due to a number of reasons which I believe its only fair to explain. Before that, I want to thank the committee. In truth I think they are battling a thankless task and working so hard, but without question there is a toxic undercurrent trying to destabilise the club and that is not fair considering if it wasn’t for their hard work and for some, personal investment there would have been no football club. Recently I have had to listen to ridiculous un ..read more

14 players were able to make the long trip to Wales to face Merthyr Town on a freezing February day to play in the re-arranged fixture after the original Saturday was called off. The trip will rack up nearly 400 miles. So it will need some planning. I collected the mini-bus on the Friday before the weekend as its half term and the school Weatherfield Academy kindly lend this to us and its half term. So transport is sorted. We don't pay the lads a penny but on a long trip like this we want to at least feed them. So, we were working out the cost and what to buy when the development squad manager ..read more

In recent games we have had to deal a depleted squad through injury and availability and that is on top of the usual key challenges we have to face. So being faced with opposition in good form and sitting well in the table should have meant this would be a daunting task. But fear is something we don’t have now and knowing Hitchin can benefit from sending match scouts to our games it proved they indeed take the task seriously and also meant that those circumstances meant we had nothing to lose. Nick Hayes was due back following his England training and with 3 Centre Backs out we felt we had no ..read more

I applaud the people that constantly search for a better way of developing players and ultimately aim to improve our national team’s results in major tournaments. So I was very interested to see this latest FA 12 Rules as a result of the youth review. The overall objective of this review was outlined as follows. To make football ‘calmer and safer’. I don’t think any person would argue with that being something that should be under constant ongoing review. They want to create the ‘right environment for faster development’.  Ok, faster development could accelerate learning and maybe have ..read more

To take to the field yesterday was a miracle and an example of what can be achieved when you have got great people pulling together. We had put together a squad over six weeks that could compete for Dunstable Town FC in Step 3 of the football pyramid and of course they needed to fit a certain profile. Young hungry players that want to move their career on and use our club as a pathway to something great. But of course that means the players are learning a lot as we go and they are not coming into training every day. So we don’t have the readymade solutions that other clubs can benefit from. Of ..read more

Another fantastic evening for a club re-birthed and reconstructing processes learning protocol to run football matches off the pitch whilst we replicate that on the pitch. So it started with a haircut…I thought, I’m looking a bit ‘Gordon Strachan’ (in his heyday) or maybe Cilla Black here. Going to have to get the groundsman on it if I don’t tackle it. So I sat in the chair, who would have thought football frustrations would come out here? “You’re the Dunstable Town manager now aren’t you”? Yes I am. “I would love to be a football coach” he said. “Well why don’t you then”? I replied. He said ..read more

Well it’s been quite some time since I have been able to sit down and type some thoughts. Its been an incredible year with Fiitball all over the UK again and as I sift through the incredible feedback from the teachers and pupils I’m left shocked but proud that I was part of making so many children happy and getting them willingly running around. As I finished this last week of schools I was asked to cover Fiitball with some younger children, YR1 and reception and it was great to add the reduced version of the game and with differentiation to achieve some really positive outcomes. My favourite ..read more

We want to do something revolutionary. In every industry the price only ever goes up. But for young children who want to play football I want the price to come down to zero. For next season we will launch a new football club on the Luton & Dunstable border's as a test. Can we do it? Can we deliver a 'higher end' brand of football. An almost professional approach with first class standards. Qualified coaches coaching with a one club ethos that is looking to develop players in a challenging, safe, fun environment where creativity and smiling is embraced not stifled. We will do this and the ..read more

At my coaching session on the Monday under the backdrop of Wembley Stadiums iconic arc we put together games for the boys. Some registered academy players and some trial players. I happened to be on the phone to a well-known coach as I struggled to get all my equipment and balls from my car to the pitch. He said I’ll let you go but I suddenly thought, no wait actually because something has occurred to me. I had recently hurt my back yet I had counted 15+ lads had walked past me and not offered to help. I have a bag of balls, a kit bag an equipment bag as I shuffled around consciously not askin ..read more

It goes without saying that I like 99% of others have found the recent revelations around Barry Bennell the football coach and scout  completely sickening, to think this could happen in the industry we work in is so appalling and shocking. It has sparked all sorts of emotions in me after watching the original dispatches video on youtube which left me speechless and shocked. I had never seen it before. Why was this brushed under the carpet? When I reflect on this it leaves me with the conclusion I have have had before. There is no doubt in my mind that people like this (men and women) that ..read more