An announcement from the football club

Frickley Athletic have today agreed a deal with the North of England Football Academy (NEFA) which will see NEFA provide investment and additional assistance into the football club.

NEFA are headed up by Chief Executive, Ryan McKnight, who in addition to his role with NEFA works as a consultant to the UK football industry. Ryan has held previous roles as Editor-in-Chief of football industry group fcbusiness, Chief Executive of the World Football Academy (UK), Chief Executive at Stockport County and has run his own consultancy & research unit into the professional game for the past three years.

Joining Ryan will be Spencer Fearn, who has been appointed as first team manager, replacing Karl Rose who has today left the Club.

Spencer has worked off the field at East Stirling and Stockport County and over the past 3 years has been managing in non–league. He turned around NCEL strugglers Maltby Main and has managed 100 games with a 42% win rate. He will be qualified at UEFA B this August and is qualified to Sports Psychology Level 4 and Management and Strategic Management Level 7. Spencer is also a development coach with Rotherham United and has previously managed numerous professional boxers with good friend David Coldwell up to World Championship level.

We also welcome John Stancliffe a UEFA B Licence Coach who will join as Assistant Manager. John has previously played for Harrogate Town, Guiseley and was a first year professional with Scarborough. He was part of the coaching team at Maltby Main.

Dan Mills will also be joining as first team scout. Dan has an extensive knowledge of non–league football and will be responsible for scouting forthcoming opposition and also aids in recruitment.

Both Ryan and Spencer will be joining the existing club board.

We would like to place on record our thanks to Karl and his team for all of their efforts over the past 5 years, which has seen some memorable moments. We wish them all the very best for the future.

A meeting of supporters will be planned in the coming weeks to give fans the opportunity to get to know the new management team and board members.
NEFA Chief Executive Ryan McKnight stated “this is a fantastic opportunity for us to work with the excellent volunteers and directors at Frickley to help improve the clubs fortunes. The funds we are investing will see stability for the club in the short-term”

“However, to turn that into a long term success we will need the support of the local community, local businesses and of course supporters, old and new. We invite anyone wanting to help to get in touch by e-mailing ryan@nefa.co.uk

Frickley Athletic outgoing Chairman Gareth Dando stated “We’d like to welcome Spencer, Ryan and their team to the Club and wish them every success in the future”.

Updated 19:45 - 2 Sep 2019 by Filthy Piece Of Toerag