We are absolutely delighted to announce that Mitch Hodge has been appointed as the new Cadbury Heath FC first team manager for next season, with Ollie Price as his Assistant Manager - they replace the legendary Andy Black in the Heath dugout. We couldn't be happier to have Mitch and Ollie onboard, it's a real coup to be able to bring them both to Springfield and they bring a wealth of experience having achieved success both on and off the pitch. Mitch joins from fellow BS30 side Longwell Green Sports where he'd been manager for the past 2 1/2 years in which time he'd built a side that was challenging this season for promotion from Western League Division 1 back to the Premier Division. Ollie has been a rock of a central defender for a number of local Southern League sides over the years and took over as Mangotsfield United manager in 2017/18 where he built a young and talented side that was performing well in the Southern League South-West division before his resignation in early Feb 2020. Ollie then featured a couple of times in Mitch's Longwell Green side before the 19/20 season was abandoned.
They bring an end to the unbelievable Andy Black management era at Springfield. Andy has been keen to move out of the dugout for a little while and, despite being persuaded to continue for the past couple of seasons, he felt that he wanted to this current season to be his last which coincided with Mitch and Ollie's availability. Andy, took over at the Heath for his second managerial spell in 2011, achieving a spectacular promotion from Western League Division 1 to the Premier Division (for the first time in the club's history) in 2011/12 and then following that up with an outstanding 4th place finish in the Premier Division the following season. In the remaining seasons Andy has consolidated our position in the Premier Division, playing entertaining attacking football and developing a number of players who have gone on to play at a higher level. As well as the Division 1 title, under his management the club has also achieved a Les Phillips League Cup Final appearance in 2010/11, won the Fry's Club Cup in 2011, a GFA Challenge Trophy Final appearance in 2013/14 before winning the GFA Challenge Trophy in 2016/17. He has also delivered some amazing FA Cup and FA Vase performances and cup runs over the years, reaching the FA Vase 2nd round in both 2012/13 and 2015/16 and reaching the FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round in 2016/17 and the 2nd Qualifying Round in 2017/18.
We are delighted that Andy is remaining an active member of the Cadbury Heath Committee, there isn't much that he hasn't done for the club over the years and he's regularly gone far above and beyond his manager role. His knowledge and experience will be invaluable to his fellow Committee members and he'll be on hand to support Mitch and Ollie wherever they feel they need it in a Director of Football-like role. There aren't enough superlatives to sum up our thanks to you Andy for all of your service in the Springfield dugout over the years, but thank you for everything you've achieved on the pitch. Also sincere thanks to John Black, who was Andy's number 2 last season and bolstered the Heath team with a number of his talented Almondsbury U18 side - thank you for all of your effort last season John.
And so, a new era begins at the Heath. Welcome again to Mitch and Ollie, you have the support of everyone involved at the club and we wish you both every success for your time here.
UP THE HEATH