Darren Sarll has spoken to the press for the first time since being announced as the clubs near caretaker boss and his excitement about fulfilling a long held ambition was clear.
Sarll believes that it is vital to get the town feeling good about their team again.
“I cannot wait for Saturday to be able to lead my club into competition. It is a very, very proud moment for me and my family as we are all local. The club has always been the top club in the area so for me to do that, that is an exciting adventure and one I am looking forward to undertaking.
“The real opportunity is for the club is to get us back into some sort of healthy state where the town can start looking at us again with a bit more pride. Obviously this year has been a very, very tough year but it is important that we fill this town with a bit of direction and a bit of pleasure on a Saturday afternoon, rather than coming away at 5 o’clock thinking, ‘Pfft we got beat again.’ ”
Helping out Sarll on the coaching front is experienced coach, Terry Harris and also club legend and current goalkeeper, Chris Day. Sarll says his knowledge will be invaluable in a coaching role.
“I have been wanting to elevate Chris for a while and get him into my coaching team. It is always something I have always thought about. He has got unbelievable experience, a great detail and knowledge base about goalkeeping and he should be imparting that on other people.
“While I am certainly temporarily here, I want Chris Day’s knowledge base and experience helping me in whichever way is best for the football club.”
Sarll also see’s room for growth in Ronnie Henry’s relationship with the management team as a senior player and has confidence in Ron to help him get the dressing room together.
“He is a big character, a friend, a colleague and a good player. So I will be using Ronnie to our advantage in terms of my messages that I want delivered.
“It has only been three days so I am trying to get all of these messages across, as much as I can and these senior players can deliver these messages in such a way that I can’t.
“I need Ronnie’s influence to help me embed my strategy, philosophy and the mentality that I want us to have. Obviously with the managers he has played under, especially Graham, he knows what a Stevenage player looks like and there is only so many people in that dressing room now who know that and that tradition was born out of the Graham Westley sides really.”
It is back to basics in many ways under Sarll’s stewardship – first and foremost he wants to see the players giving it their all on the pitch.
“I am a fan so when I hear people say, 'All we want to see is eleven players going out and trying their absolute hardest for the football club' - I agree with them.
“If we can instil that in this short space of time we won’t be far off because there is some very talented boys in that dressing room who have had good success in their careers.
“So we have gone back to them foundations, those basic values of come on, let’s work hard for this football club and let’s work hard for the people and the fans.”
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