Posted by Padz on April 29, 2007, 12:28 am Roger has a vast knowledge of non league football and we are looking forward to working with him for the foreseeable future as we strive to build on the success achieved by Phil Lines and his team. We would like to thank Phil for the superb job he has done during his spell in charge and for the professional way in which he has taken the club forward on the field. The club have several exciting projects to be announced over the summer months which will cement our ambitions to build a club that everyone in the community is proud to be associated with.’ Roger Ashby is a former Kettering Town player (over 600 appearances) who has previously managed Rushden & Diamonds, Bedford Town, Grantham Town and Nuneaton Borough. He resigned as Nuneaton Borough manager in December 2006. Outgoing Manager Phil Lines (who addressed supporters on the club coach after the match at Aylesbury today) was in a reflective mood commenting 'This will probably come as bit of a shock to all connected to BTFC, but Saturdays game at Aylesbury will be my last as manager of our football club. I can imagine many of you being surprised by my decision to step down from the job, when Mike Ford left the club in Feb 06 I agreed with the board that I would do the job for 3/4 games , this would give us the time to find a new manager we won those games so i took over,until the end of the season, we went on a a 13 match unbeaten run on our final league game of the season at home to Ashford Town we needed one point to get promotion, we unfortunately lost 1-0 , 3 days later we were at home to Marlow in the play off semi - final the lads showed a lot of character to put the Ashford result to one side and we beat Marlow 2-1,
Bit of a shocker:
‘Following lengthy discussions the Board of Brackley Town Football Club are pleased today to announce the appointment of Roger Ashby as First Team Manager. This appointment will take effect immediately.
Phil is stepping down from first team duties and whilst working closely with Roger will also be concentrating on continuing to build the structure of football at the club which will benefit the whole community.
Appointed manager of Nuneaton Borough in February 2004 following the departure of Alan Lewer he led the club to fourth, third and second place finishes (In the Conference North) as well as an excellent record in the FA Cup which reached its peak at when taking Borough to a replay with Premiership Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium in the 3rd Round of the competition in the 2004/05 season.
then 5 days later we were at home to Hemel Hempstead in the play off final ,we turned in a excellent performance on the day but as we all know to well were beaten by 2 very late goals, it was for many of us our worst experience in football,
If we had held on for the last ten minutes we would have been promoted, I would of then stepped to one side and let the club get another manager in, but after a week of soul searching and witnessing the huge disappointment and heartache every one connected to BTFC was suffering I felt it was my responsibility to try and put a team together to get out of the league this season
I am delighted to say that with great support from Andy Sinnott and the rest of my staff we have achieved that goal.
I started managing football teams at the age of 27, for the next 20 years for good and bad it ruled my life, I kind of fell out of love with the job 5/6 years ago, it puts a big strain on your family life. As you get older and look back and I think how my family have suffered because of my selfish obsession, the past 15 months have been a wonderful experience for all of us play off games,great FA Cup run, and now the biggest prize of all the Southern League Championship, during this period our crowds have increased by over 50%.
I would like to say a sincere thank you for the support I have been given by
(a) the clubs board Olly Sara Phil Hedges
(b) our supporters they have brilliant both home and away.
(c) my Backroom staff Andy , Matty , Ian, Pete , Martin Pat Ashby
(d) and probably most importantly The players , todays football world is full of new coaching / training theories, then we have match analysis, its the modern day / commercial world we are in,, but football is a simple game, the fundamental requirements for a successful football team are basically , good players, team balance, and a group of lads who are committed to there team and club, we have been well served with the three above requirements, well done lads.
From Monday onwards I will be reverting to my original role at the club as director of football, I am looking forward to next season so much, during the past 2 years this club has made a lot of progress both on and off the field, but we still have a lot of work to do to develop the club further, I see my priorities as helping the new manager in any way I can, and help set up in the future a junior /youth section that will eventually lead to us producing our own grown players.
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