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'You do realise it won't be easy don't you?' the Chairman enquired.
'Of course. But I honestly believe I can take this club back into the Blue Square Premier and with a bit of time build a squad that can push up the divisions. I think the players will respond to me and I have a lot of contacts that can bring a better quality of player to the club than you would have been used to. I will deliver'.
And so a 3 year contract was signed. I was the new manager of Forest Green Rovers. Their stay in the top division of Non-League football had ended last season with relegation and I was picked ahead of some pretty stiff competition to take the reigns at The New Lawn.
Two seasons at Redditch United in the Blue Square North taught me a lot. A bright young thing or a managerial flop was what I would end up being at Valley Stadium. In my first season with the reds I steered a team tipped to finish rock bottom to a 13th place finishing earning the club the title of overachievers of the year. I'd used my contacts to bring in some fantastic players in my second term in charge and I led the pack in January before a disastrous set of circumstances saw 11 of my usual 16 injured and replaced with kids, given the club had no funds and was not a big attraction for loan players of any quality to join. A huge winless streak left me in the drop zone before a miraculous last day escape at eventual play off semi-finalists Hucknall Town.
Despite flirting with the Unibond Premier, we survived, the board were pleased we'd stayed up and so were the fans. Yet again I dipped into the market shaping my squad with more signings of quality to push the club on.
However 4 pre-season defeats to amateur sides and the dressing room was lost. It appeared that captain Simon Rea had lost faith in me and convinced some of the other lads I wasn't up to the job. The board stood by me but it was time to go. I respected the club way too much and with a squad on paper that could achieve big things I felt it was better I walk away and allow them to realise their potential than stand in the way of the club for the sake of my own employment. The football we were playing was simply awful and I wanted the club to be able to recruit a man who'd get them playing as quickly as possible.
I left the Valley Stadium with fond memories.
3 weeks of applying for various positions saw me turned down at Scottish Division 3 side Raith Rovers as well as Conference South new boys Woking who'd also been relegated with Forest Green.
It was Rovers that took a chance on me and with pre-season having been completed I was unveiled on the Monday morning ready to take to the dugout for the season opener with Dorchester at home on Saturday.
I spoke to my staff and advised them that while I may bring my own guys in I had got glowing reports of some of them so would give them all a chance to work with me until at least January and let them impress upon me that they shared my belief in the players and the club and could help me take it forward.
I was aware of talent like strikers Stuart Fleetwood, the ex Cardiff man who'd been a huge hit since dropping into non league and another ex Bluebird, Paul McVeigh, who'd Rovers had amazingly managed to lure in the previous campaign. At this level they could run riot, especially with the creativity of Simon Clist in midfield. I assessed the rest of the squad and agreed with the media assessment of a top two finish. Woking, who'd turned me down, were favourites to take the title.
The club was in a precarious financial state. £400,000 in the red and with nearly all of the players contracted for another 2 seasons. I couldn't afford to release anyone from their contract and even at the end of the season I'd be lucky to offload players I didn't want. With the wages £1000 over budget I made 4 fringe players available for free transfers. All found new clubs and the budget was no longer breached.
I even had room to bulk up my attacking options. With Danny Carey-Bertram injured I had no other fit strikers than the starting pair so I raided Scottish club Morton for old boy Alex Meechan, who could play up top or out wide. There was no fee and Alex was delighted at the chance to return.
I'd settled in well, the lads seemed to like me and everyone seemed confident ahead of the visit of Dorchester.
2-0. We never looked like conceding and Dorchester couldn't get the ball of us. We'd looked like a League side at times such was the quality on show.
I couldn't have been prouder with the start we made.
We followed it up with another 2-0 home victory this time against newly promoted Matlock Town and sat top of the Blue Square South alongside Woking. Already the two hot favourites were justifying their tags.
The first away trip took us to Bognor Regis. A first goal conceded after just 3 minutes and the first hairdryer treatment at half time.
'What the **** is going on out there? We are 3 goals down and no one on that park has given me anything. We must get a result here. Now get out there and make it happen. You have the ability but they are working their socks off. Work that hard and we'll find a way back into it'.
A minute into the second half and Fleetwood got off the mark for the season. On 62 minutes he doubled his account with a deft lob and Bognor were rocking. They were reduced to 10 men after a professional foul with 5 minutes to go and from the resulting free kick Paul McVeigh smashed home to make it 3-3. We almost conceded a winner in stoppage time which I would have been livid with but secretly I was delighted we battled back to get a point.
I was reserved with my praise of the players pointing out they'd done brilliantly but also that they'd put us in that position in the first place. I reminded them they were better than anything in the division but if they didn't match the opponents for desire we'd come off second best more often than not.
A 2-1 win at Basingstoke and a 3-0 win at home to Blyth kept us unbeaten and sat us behind Woking who were still 100%
We then travelled to Eastbourne and ended up drawing 1-1 in a game where we were much the better side. I wasn't too disappointed with a point away and the coach trip home was slightly better for Woking being held at home by Maidenhead.
Straight wins against Lewes, Maidenhead, AFC Wimbledon and Sutton was enough to take us top on goal difference from Woking and the fans were delighted rightly so with the start to the season.
Ten games in and we were yet to lose, winning eight of them. The toughest test however was to come with a trip to 3rd place Havant and Waterlooville.
Paul McVeigh fired home his 8th of the season inside the opening 10 minutes and Chris Giles towered home a header before the break to give us a nice cushion. The home side couldn't find a way in and before the end we hit them on the break with their centre half sliding past his own keeper from a Meechan cross to give us a slightly flattering 3-0 victory.
The FA Cup had paired us with a trip to Blue Square North side Worcester, my fierce rivals from my Redditch days and I was delighted to come away with a 2-1 win. I'd been roundly booed by all sections of the St George's Lane crowd and I risked the FA coming down on me by applauding their fans at the final whistle. After the **** they gave me last season when my Redditch side crashed 4-0 there in April on our journey to the relegation places, I felt it was appropriate pay back.
Back to league action and we defeated Chelmsford 2-0. Chelmsford then face Yate in a FA Cup 2nd Qualifying replay and were beaten preventing a second clash inside a fortnight.
We visited Yate and trailed to a wonder goal before a deserved 2-1 victory saw us through to the last qualifying round and dreaming of a money spinning cup run that could help ease the financial woe.
Woking would not relent and won again and again and again but we fought them every inch of the early pacesetting way with another win 3-1 at Thurrock to stay top on goals scored twelve games in dropping only four points in the process. The unbeaten run was fourteen in all competitions we'd scored 32 goals and conceded just 7 in that time and the fans were delighted with the start we'd made.
I called my former assistant at Redditch Simon Garner who'd gone on to get the managers post there and congratulated him on their fine start as they sat 4th in the Blue Square North. He told me a few stories about some of the players that pitted my downfall and said that he'd won some players over but he still had he eye on ousting one in particular from whom he feared the same sort of act of disloyalty could tarnish his own spell as top dog.
I offered him a number of players on loan if he needed to boost his squad and he thanked me for the offered. We joked about meeting in the Premier next year and who knows. Maybe it could happen?
Although I have removed 2 mediocre seasons with Redditch from the story to give it a bit more of an edge and left out the bizarre debacle with Eastleigh. I'll carry on this story now alongside playing the actual game.
A Walk In The Forest 
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