A 20 year old becomes the club’s THIRD manager in a week, after one boss was sacked just hours after his appointment was confirmed
Manager Seb Hayes’ very short stint at struggling Northern Premier League club Yaxley ended in rather embarrassing circumstances.
Hayes was named as the club’s second boss of the week after Andy Furnell resigned for personal reasons, only to steps away in the same morning .
Yaxley currently sit bottom (20th) in the Midlands Division with one point from 24 games, they have won none of them and lost 23 and are 20 points conceded 84 goals.
Hayes wrote in a tweet: “I’m embarrassed writing this! Less than seven hours after giving me the job the chairman rang me and sacked me.
“One point on the board, 20 points from safety, losing 20 games on the bounce, but he says I wanted to make too many changes to the playing squad!”
Local non-league football manager claims he’s been sacked after less than 7 HOURS in charge! https://t.co/JbfroRQdvx
— Alan Swann (@PTAlanSwann) January 5, 2023
A statement from chairman Malcolm Clements, was posted on the club website. He said: “All at the club wish ‘Furns’ all the best with his personal issues and would publicly like to thank him for all the hard work since taking over the position in October 2017, when he lead the team to the league title and promotion to step 4 football.
“He has achieved so much in this time. ‘Furns’ will still have an integral role to play within the club. Seb is no outsider to the club, previously heading up our reserve side several seasons ago and also running youths sides at the club. Seb has experience of this level of football with a spell at Wisbech Town. Other clubs include, Holbeach, PNS to name some. He is a very talented individual with strong values and I look forward to working with him.”
Yaxley go on to claim that Hayes was got rid of due to ignoring the club’s policy on recruitment the same morning after he agreed the terms and conditions of the job.
Peterborough Telegraph report that club officials thought one or two players were enough to make the team competitive again, with 1-0 defeats to Halesowen and Spalding said to be the proof they can make it tough for the title challengers.
Andy Furnell, who is now in an advisory role having resigned from the manager’s job for personal reasons, says: “The club met with Seb on Monday night and spelled out our policy going forward which he accepted.
“We have some good players at the club, but could do with one or two extra ones. We didn’t want to make wholesale changes and Seb agreed.
“But the next day he presented us with a list of seven or eight players he wanted to sign and to be honest some of them would struggle at the level below ours, never mind our current level.
“There were players on his list who play at step six and step seven. We play at step four and there is a big difference between that level and step five, never mind the levels below that. We also need players who can play at United Counties League level in the likely event of our relegation. We want to make sure we have a squad strong enough to compete at that level.
“We decided we needed to part ways now rather than let things fester and Seb has decided to say certain things publicly which is disappointing.
“We will appoint a new manager before the weekend game and we are confident he will buy into the club’s policy and do a great job.
“I’m sad to have stepped back from the job myself, but I have pressing personal matters that need my attention. I will still be helping the club out.”]
Meanwhile, Yaxley appoint a THIRD manager within a week in Sammy Mould, who is now England’s youngest manager.
He is a former footballer, having played at the likes of Northampton and Luton as a youngster, but also spent life in non league with Coleshill, Stratford, Enfield and Crawley Green.
That career was “cut short” due to health issues he says were brought on by Covid and the vaccine, so now he is taking to being a manager.
“I think to be honest, touching on sort of why I took the opportunity, my own football career was cut short by a few health issues, so that includes long Covid,” Mould told MirrorFootball.
“I am still struggling with side effects to this day, and also the vaccine. I took the vaccine, on my second vaccine I had a bad reaction to it. I got [blood] clots in my lungs and all this sort of stuff, so I haven’t played since and haven’t looked like playing anytime soon.
“So, it’s forced my hand if you like into another area of football whether that be helping players come through the leagues or whether that means taking a managerial job.
“In terms of Yaxley, I have been helping behind the scenes over the last sort of four or five months and obviously there’s been a transition period at Yaxley, such as players coming out of the club. We have the smallest budget in the league, so that presents challenges itself, but I’ve given some of the players set challenges to make it more competitive.
“So, knowing the players and the timing, it makes sense for me to come into position. Obviously, it’s a difficult job, they have got one point in January, everyone at the club is aware of that but we’ve got 15 games left to see what we can do is what I would say.”
🗣️ “Listen, they could have got Pep Guardiola in and he’d have a hard job.”
Exclusive interview with Sammy Mould, 20, who has become the youngest manager in the top nine tiers of English football after taking charge of struggling Yaxley 👇https://t.co/zmBK497q7L
— Kieran King (@kieranking_11) January 10, 2023
He had hopes of playing at the highest level as a professional footballer – only for that to end in December 2021 after coming back from a scholarship in the US.
Mould says negative aftereffects from the Covid vaccine, led to him becoming a manager at eighth tier Yaxley.
“I was young. I grew up in a professional academy, I wasn’t a Sunday League player,” he said. “I was at clubs from the Premier League to League Two, probably between 15 and 16 clubs in my time, so I know the system.
“I was actually in America at the time [when I had the Covid issues], playing top level university football out there on the scholarship. I have always been fairly bright, I came back to see my family last Christmas, took the vaccine and had a very bad reaction to it. I had a period where I had a blood clot and then Covid, so it was a bit of a nightmare.
“I sort of got better to a certain extent, but I always had aspirations to play at the highest level. I believe I could have been a professional footballer, if I put the time in and settled myself down, and failing that I would’ve had a good non-league career. But on the flip side, I have always been fairly bright, so there was always a back-up option for me.
“Although it was a blow, it knew that I could take myself into other areas of football or education without too many problems. If my body allows me too I would play again at some point, but I haven’t done any cardio for about a year, so that’s an issue itself.”
He’s also launched a business of his own and runs a full-time football management company while also being a self-employed agent.
“It’s not new to me to have a challenge,” he goes on. “For various reasons, I have been doubted for a lot of things in my youth career. I am very aware of my age, and to be fair, some people have been brilliant with me. Other people, not so much but that is part and parcel of football, obviously running a sports management company I am aware some people have nice things to say, some people don’t.
“Listen, they (Yaxley) could have got Pep Guardiola in and he’d have a hard job, they’ve got one point and have the smallest budget in the league. I think there needs to be a bit of realism behind it, but at the same time I’ll give 100%.
“I’m not going say we’re going to be staying up, but I’m not going to say we’re going to be going down either, it’s not over until it’s over. What I would say is that a win will spark confidence at the club and we will be doing our utmost to get as many points as we can.”
Mould said on his ambitions: “I want to manage in the Premier League. It might seem lofty, it might seem ambitious, but I believe I will manage at the top level. I will tell that to anyone I speak to, I think I can do it, I know people at that level, whether that be players, officials and managers. I don’t think there are a million things I can’t do that they can.
“I have got a lot to learn, and I will learn that on the job, but at the same time, I have got time on my side. I have got 40 years and if there is anyone that can get experience young, it’s me. I don’t want to limit myself to non-league or the lower end of the football league, I want to manage at the top level.”
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