There will be a few different faces in the dugouts of several clubs in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League come next season, with Stratton Juniors, Marlborough Town, Wroughton, Devizes Town Reserves and Trowbridge Town all announcing a changing of the guard. It seems like a lot of change is taking place although it has some way to go to match the end of the 2017-18 Season when 75% of the teams in the Premier Division changed their management teams for the following season.

Stratton Juniors

Stratton Juniors announced they were looking for a new first team management team back at the end of March, just prior to the start of the Fountain Trophies Senior Cup. Their advertisement for new managers drew interest from far and wide and they recently announced the appointment of Tom Crawford and Dudey Philpott to the position. The duo were the management team this season at Melksham Town A in Division One of the Trowbridge & District League, with Tom also being the Youth Chairman at Melksham Town. They will take over from Magnus Painter, the Stratton Juniors chairman, who occupied the dug out this season having assumed the team manager duties following the departure of Craig Bright.  It was Bright who had secured the club’s promotion from the Swindon & District League and the winning of the Wiltshire Junior Cup. Painter, along with club secretary Paul Sturridge, will now concentrate on overseeing Stratton’s exciting move to a new ground and the development of new facilities.

The club chairman indicated that the new management team will be given a free reign to operate the men’s team, with limited interference from the committee, giving the new duo the opportunity to stamp their mark on the club. As well as the match day team duties, the new management team will also have responsibility for the social media and related activities for the men’s side of the club. Having now had two, albeit both incomplete, seasons in the Wiltshire Senior League, the arrival of the new management team will freshen things up at Stratton as they look to consolidate their position in senior football in the county and look to challenge for honours.

Marlborough Town

Marlborough Town recently announced that as part of a restructuring of their club the current first team manager Andy Ealey had been appointed as their new Head of Football. In his new role Ealey will have the new manager of the first team and also the reserve team manager reporting into him. He will also oversee the club’s coaching and development strategy, as well as taking on the typical duties that reside with a club secretary. He will also be responsible for integrating the club’s youth teams in with the adult sides as they look to grow the club. His first job will be to find managers for the two adult sides.

Ealey has managed the first team at Marlborough Town for three seasons now, his side finishing in 12^th position in his first season in charge before being placed in 10^th and 14^th respectively in the two seasons curtailed by Covid-19. He did secure the clubs first silverware since their League Division 2 title triumph way back in Season 1992-93, with a win in Cricklade Town’s pre-season competition at the start of the 2020-21 Season.

Wroughton

Wroughton recently announced they were looking for new management teams for both their first team and their reserves, the latter play in the Swindon & District League. The process of finding new management teams is still ongoing but Wroughton will hope to be able to announce something in the not-too-distant future. For more information see earlier post about the vacancies at Wroughton.

Devizes Town Reserves

Ollie Gee took over the managerial reigns at Devizes Town Reserves part way through the current season and was responsible for an uptick in the fortunes, culminating in a good showing in the Fountain Trophies Cup. For next season he will be joining David Jenkins and Stewart Swan in the first team dugout in the Toolstation Western League hence Devizes are now after a new manager to replace him for the reserve side in our league. The reserve team manager will work closely with the new first team management trio and the re-formed Under 18 Floodlit side who will be competing in the Under 18 Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire League next season.

Trowbridge Town

The latest side to announce a changing of the guard are Trowbridge Town who yesterday put out an excellent statement from manager Ant Ottaviano that he was stepping down after three seasons in charge at Trowbridge. From the comments and tributes on social media Ottaviano was clearly a very popular manager with all of his players and everyone else associated with Trowbridge Town. He took over from Tom Robson at the start of the 2018-19 Season and in his first season in charge saw his Trowbridge side finish in sixth place, losing just five games all season. They would have finished a lot higher if they could have turned some of the eleven drawn matches into victories. The following two seasons, both of which were curtailed, have been difficult for everyone but Trowbridge won as many as they lost in the latest curtailed season. Ottaviano will now take a well-earned rest from football whilst we await news from Trowbridge who will be taking over in the dugout next season.

We wish all of the departing managers well in their future ventures and thank them for their efforts over the various seasons. We look forwarding to welcoming their replacements at the start of Season 2021-22 for what what will hopefully be a more enjoyable season for everyone involved in grassroots football.

21 May 2021