Shortwood are delighted to announce the appointments of Neil Long as First Team Assistant Manager and Josh Loveridge as First Team Coach to work with with Manager Mat Blythe.

These appointments give the Wood a complete package going forward and the club are excited about the future...

Mat Blythe writes...

The plan was always to have a 3 man management team but we didn’t want to rush any appointments after Ian Soule had stepped down and while Will Dunn has been superb, he was keen to play more and keep helping the reserves develop and I would like to thank him for his help and look forward to working more with him in the development of the young players.

Neil gives us much needed experience and will be a good presence around the place. Having been part a very successful management team at Brimscombe he knows what it takes. He’s also previously played for Shortwood and I feel that connection with the club is important.

Josh gives a slightly different dynamic, but equally valuable. He’s got an excellent background in coaching and developing young players and recently gained valuable experience managing a very strong county league team. He’s a student of the game and his fresh ideas on the training ground and match days is just what we’ve been after.

With these two additions to the management team I feel we have all basis covered and a nice balance of experience and youth. Longy’s old, Josh is young. And I’m somewhere in the middle !

I hope everyone is safe and in good health and we look forward to seeing everyone again once we get the green light.