It took a change of heart for Pat McManus to remain at Brockenhurst over the summer and he admits the arrival of new chairman Stan Reid has heralded a new dawn at the club.
McManus will lead Brockenhurst into their Emirates FA Cup third round qualifying clash with National League South’s Wealdstone on Saturday knowing full well he came close to quitting for good.
But with Reid in place, plans have been drawn up to take the Badgers onto greater heights – indeed McManus’ squad is unrecognisable to last season.
Brockenhurst v Wealdstone
Emirates FA Cup
Third round qualifying
3pm, Saturday 10 October
Grigg Lane
It’s all clicked into place quickly for the Wessex Premier League outfit, who are currently on a five-game unbeaten streak and had won four previous FA Cup games to set up Saturday’s tie.
They have enjoyed some luck along the way – having been drawn at home in each tie – but McManus believes the club’s upward curve will continue long after their cup run finishes.
“I had a difference of opinion with the previous chairman but I was convinced to come back and the new chairman, Stan Reid, has been great for us – the difference around the place is chalk and cheese,” said McManus, whose side has equalled their best-ever FA Cup run.
"The ground is not just a place where the team comes to play anymore, the commercial activities have been expanded and we’ve got that ambition.
“I like what the chairman stands for and this place has got so much potential without chucking thousands of pounds into it.
“To be fair it’s a completely new side – we’ve only got one player from last year, and the rebuild is higher priority over the FA Cup run.
“We can’t look ahead of this tie though, I didn’t even look at the draw until we’d finished with Biggleswade in the replay”
Gordon Bartlett Wealdstone manager
“We’ve done it on a shoestring budget and for it to come together as it has, with the players still learning about each other, is just phenomenal. And this team will only get better, the FA Cup run will end sooner rather than later but we’ll keep improving.
“We’ve been so lucky to get all four FA Cup games so far at home and now to have the fifth one at home too is quite remarkable.
“But the people working behind the scenes have done an incredible amount of work to try and get people through the gates and that drive has married up well with the cup run.”
Wealdstone will be particularly wary of falling victims to an upset after being run all the way by Biggleswade Town in the previous round.
It took a 2-0 victory in the replay to secure their place in the hat yet despite that wobble there’s no doubting that they are a tough nut to crack.
Their last defeat came all the way back in August and manager Gordon Bartlett has stressed the importance of focus to his troops.
“We’re going to treat this exactly the same as any other game and do the job – we’ve only got to look at the last round against Biggleswade, as we didn’t do particularly well in the initial tie or the replay,” he said. “They gave us a real run for our money.
“We’ve underachieved in that respect, it’s not the standard that we require. We were terribly disjointed during pre-season but we’ve managed to get back into the swing of things.
“I still don’t think the balance of the side is quite right and for one reason or another can’t seem to pick the same side two weeks running – but we’ve got a pretty decent foundation.
“We’re unbeaten in eight games now after receiving a bit of a wake-up call at Sutton, although I’m not 100 per cent happy with things.
“We can’t look ahead of this tie though, I didn’t even look at the draw until we’d finished with Biggleswade in the replay. We’ll be giving Brockenhurst due respect.”
