[Dan_]

Graham Westley's meant to be coming back to Stevenage

[GiRTh]

Originally posted by Dan_
Graham Westley's meant to be coming back to Stevenage

Is that a good shock or a bad shock.

What about the all English Champions league final? Come on Man Utd.

[Dan_]

Originally posted by GiRTh

Is that a good shock or a bad shock.

What about the all English Champions league final? Come on Man Utd.

Little bit of both to be honest lol.He was a right arrogant prick the last time he was manager and made us a bit of a laughing stock.He claims to be a changed man now though.We shall see.

[GiRTh]

Originally posted by Dan_

Little bit of both to be honest lol.He was a right arrogant prick the last time he was manager and made us a bit of a laughing stock.He claims to be a changed man now though.We shall see.

Was he successful last time?

[Dan_]

Stevenage Borough have appointed Graham Westley and John Dreyer on a one year contract to spearhead the club's push for promotion to the Football League next season. 40 year old Westley left Stevenage in 2006 after a 3 year spell which saw them reach the Promotion Final in 2005, narrowly missing out to Carlisle. Westley and Dreyer first teamed up in a short, successful spell at Rushden in season 2006/7 where they suffered 2 defeats in 11 matches towards the end of the season to cast off the threat of relegation.

Graham Westley will head up the new look team as manager and former fans favourite John Dreyer will be assistant manager. A new fitness coach and first team coach will be appointed in the near future from a small list of identified, highly qualified coaches.

Chairman Phil Wallace said “The opinion of the board is that we need a manager who can hit the ground running coming August, so extensive knowledge of the Conference is essential. Graham most certainly has that and is our preferred choice. We also know that we need people around him that are the right types and John Dreyer is most certainly that. The board has no doubt that Graham and John are a formidable partnership and the right people for us, right here, right now. Graham has changed a lot in 2 years but his energy, motivation and desire to succeed are even stronger than before. He’s had a while to gather his thoughts about how to lead a club to success and has learnt over the last few years that Stevenage fans, including myself, want to watch a high tempo passing game played in the right spirit. That is the driver and motivation for everyone employed at Stevenage from now on, irrespective of who the manager is. We’ll be beefing up our coaching staff during the summer with an instruction to deliver winning football with pace and flair and that mindset will determine everything we do from now on”.

He continued “John Dreyer is well known to our fans and well liked by people in football. He’s a great admirer of Graham’s ability to manage and there’s a lot of mutual respect between them. We have three top names on our list for the coaching position but we’ll wait a bit before making that appointment as there are some great coaches out there and we'll see who else applies”

A full statement from the club concerning this appointment will follow.

A press conference will be held on Tuesday 6 May at 3pm and a Fans Forum will be held at the club later in the month at a date to be determined.

Wallace just couldn't help himself.

[Dan_]

Originally posted by GiRTh

Was he successful last time?

Well first season he took us from 2nd bottom to 12th in the space of a couple of months, he did take most of the squad at Farnborough with him though.

2nd season we came 8th despite him saying we'd make the play-offs.3rd season we made the play-offs despite him saying we would win the league.In his last season with us we missed out on the play-offs on the last day of the season after he fell out and sold our star player.

[GiRTh]

Are you happy he's back?

[Dan_]

Originally posted by GiRTh
Are you happy he's back?

Not overly.I've still got the lasting memories of long ball football and his cringeworthy comments in the local paper, including slagging off the fans.

The chairman said he's learnt his lesson's though and his spell as manager of Rushden last year proved that.

[GiRTh]

Long ball eh? I can see why you're not all that happy. Lets hope he has learnt his lesson.

[Dan_]

The chairman said he's putting entertainment before results now and he's emphasised that to Westley.I get the feeling from what Westley's said in his newspaper column of late, he was wanting to get another manager's job and be bold by playing attractive football.

[BigSister]

hope its the right decsion dan

[Dan_]

Me and all lol.It's about time we got promotion out of this league, but appointing someone who failed to do it in the past, just feels like a backward step for me.

[BigSister]

yeah i can see what you mean but you never know he might have learnt his lesson like you said

[GiRTh]

I think you'll be OK Dan.

[Jay]

Anyone see the Exeter Torquay game? i enjoyed the game thought Torquay had it when they went 3-1 up on agg, but in the last 20 minutes bad defending cost them dearly and ended up loosing 5-3 on agg.

[Dan_]

I did mate.It was an very exciting 2nd half half, like you I thought Torquay had booked a place in the final once they scored.Full credit to Exeter for the comeback but I've got question marks over why Torquay were defending so deep, it just invited Exeter onto them.

Torquay need to replace their goalkeeper.Raynor's too error prone.

[Jay]

That's been the problem with Torquay this year goalkeepers think thats there third goalie this year, they have a good enough squad i feel to get back into leauge football next year but as you said Dan they need a solid back four and goalkeeper.

[Dan_]

I suppose the defence cannot get used to a keeper if they are changing them so often, it just leads to uncertainty.

[Jay]

Sure does, who do you think will win the other play off semi?

[InTheHood]

Wooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooo!

Playoff Final

What a last 20 minutes, what a last 2 minutes!

Torquay fans thought it was in the bag (and to be honest, so did I)

Even if we don't go up, neither will Torquay

Let's hope Heerenveen make it a double tonight and win in Amsterdam v Ajax, although that is fantasy!

Likely to be the last game for the likes of Sulejmani, Pranjic and Bradley before they leave for England I suspect. Sulejmani is wanted by a few and Pranjic - Tottenham, Bradley - Everton

[Dan_]

Ebbsfleet beat Torquay 1-0 to win the FA Trophy.Well done to them!

[BigSister]

Well done ebbsfleet

[Dan_]

We have signed 7 new players already.

Goalkeeper Ashley Bayes joins from Crawley.
Right back Eddie Anaclet from Oxford.
Winger Andy Drury from Lewes
Striker Anthony Thomas from Barnet
and Kettering trio, Gary Mills,David Bridges and Craig Westcarr.

[BigSister]

not bad *nods*
It just says in our local paper weve signed someone but its not 100% certain yet

[Dan_]

Colin Murdock from Shrewsbury?