“Having spent most of my adult life at Coventry Sphinx, playing and then managing the first team, then moving on to coaching and running a kids’ team at Sphinx, it was always going to be very strange not being around the club on a daily and weekly basis.
In my time as manager at Sphinx I helped stabilise the club and hopefully played my part in getting the club to its current status as the biggest non-league club in Coventry, boasting a massive junior section, which to this day is still providing players that have come through the ranks to make the current first team.
The Sphinx has and will always be a very special place for me and my family. I can safely say that the Sphinx and myself are very grateful for helping each other achieve the status we are both at now.
Having taken a junior team through to the U16s and in our final game becoming County Champions, it was time to take a back seat.
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| MARTIN, RIGHT, STANDS & ASSESSES AT WESTWOOD HEATH ROAD YESTERDAY... |
Then out of the blue, I received a call from Mark Eyden at Kenilworth Sporting, asking me to go over for a chat about the possibility of taking over the manager’s position of the club.
After a couple of hours of talking and being shown around the Gypsy Lane venue I decided to accept the offer.
The club’s owners and staff obviously have expectations of moving up the leagues as the ground and set up is that of an MFL premier club but they want to improve on and off the pitch, which is why they were keen for me to take the role.
I had to reiterate that my success at Sphinx was down to hard work from all the committee and volunteers every day and each week and by all pulling in the right and same direction.
Having none of the Coventry Plumbing team to work with meant that it was a blank sheet of paper and we are starting a completely new team.
Bringing in Luke Hopkins, Stuart Dutton and Wayne Pulford was so important for me to help take the club forward.
My own personal expectation for the new season is to be up there hopefully fighting for promotion but a lot will depend on recruitment. We are at least a month behind most clubs so we have to be patient in bringing in players who will take us to where we want and need to be.
Hopefully we will give the owners a bit to smile about and even more importantly we get Kenilworth town’s general public coming back through the gate on a Saturday afternoon to give them a football club to be proud of…”
Martin Ascroft, manager, Kenilworth Sporting…
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