fbpx
Connect with us

Boreham Wood

Boreham Wood appoint new manager as chairman talks relegation, rebuild and season tickets

Boreham Wood appoint a new manager in Ross Jenkins as chairman Danny Hunter talks of the club’s relegation, rebuild and season tickets.

It comes just a few hours after Oxford City confirmed the departure of Ross Jenkins, who stepped up to manage the Men’s First Team in January 2022 and subsequently guided the club to the National League for the first time in their history.

Owner Justin Merrit said on his departure: “Ross will always be remembered fondly here as the Manager who helped us reach the highest level we have ever played at. To keep us in contention for much of last season, despite the obvious challenges in the higher league, was commendable and it is no surprise that he attracted interest from other clubs: he is a very good coach and I am sure he will go onto have an outstanding career.

“He leaves on very good terms and we have already begun the process of finding his successor. The timing allows us to rebuild over the summer and then have a full pre-season to get ready with a new person in charge working towards a new and exciting chapter in our history.”

Ross thanked the fans as well at the Board as he said farewell to the club: “It’s been a great honour being the Oxford City Manager. We’ve shared some special moments together having reached the play-off semi-finals and then getting promoted into the National League for the first time.

“It’s been a pleasure working with this group of players, Oxford City and Velocity staff. I can’t thank Justin enough for giving me the opportunity to lead this club and the support of the fans has been incredible. We can all be proud of what we’ve achieved over the last two years and I wish the club the very best moving forward.”

CLUB STATEMENT:

Boreham Wood FC is thrilled to announce the appointment of Ross Jenkins as our new Head Coach, Following the expiration of his contract with Oxford City. We are also delighted to announce the return of club legend Mark Ricketts as our first-team Assistant Manager following his decision to hang up his boots at the end of last season. Lloyd Doyley will complete the management team as our First Team Coach, continuing to bring his wealth of experience to the table, having made over 400 appearances for Watford FC. He also played alongside Jenkins during that time.

Jenkins’ coaching journey began at Oxford City as Assistant Manager before becoming Manager, where he then guided the Hoops to promotion to the Vanarama National League for the first time in the club’s history during the 2022–23 season after a 4-0 win against St Albans City in their playoff final. Ross’ teams are known for their possession-based football, intricate play, and forward thinking, which we hope will bring us success and excite the Wood Army.

As a player, Jenkins began his journey with a two-year academy scholarship at Watford in 2007, swiftly making his mark and earning regular appearances for the Hornets’ first team. His versatility and skill on the pitch led him to represent England five times at the U20 level, showcasing his talent on the international stage. Jenkins then went on to make a total of 82 appearances in the Championship for Watford.

Our new Assistant Manager Mark Ricketts is someone who needs no introduction to the ‘Wood Army’, having made over 230 appearances for the Wood across seven seasons, including captaining the Wood to Wembley in 2018 and being involved in three memorable FA Cup runs, including THAT goal of goals against Bournemouth, which saw the Wood progress to the FA Cup 5th Round against Everton at Goodison Park. Ricko is widely regarded as the Club’s greatest ever captain, and it is fitting that he looks to begin his career in management and coaching back here at the Wood.

We look forward to seeing the collaboration of three hardworking, intelligent, and humble football brains as they now focus on recruitment and begin building a squad that’s ready for the upcoming season.

Welcome to the Wood, Ross, and welcome back, Ricko!

OUR CLUB. OUR TOWN. OUR COMMUNITY

Chairman Danny Hunter

Interviewer: Ok, joined by chairman Danny Hunter, it’s been been a while since we last sat down and had an interview and an update obviously since then it was confirmed our relegation to the National League South obviously it was a hard day for for yourself and the club how have you responded to that and and how are you looking forward now

Hunter: It takes a while I think to process those type of days and and the reasons we got there but it’s um again you can’t look back in anger now you’ve got to look forward and and get on with things um do we have regrets of course we do but we’ve relegated now so um you know we go back into the Conference South or the National League South. I’m a much stronger club uh then we left it and um so it’s my job to you know uh make sure we rally make sure the structures are are fine make sure we’re respectful um hardworking and um we go into the division you know with one intention um to to get promotion and um uh and to do that as I say we must be humble respectful hard working because it’s going to be a tough division to get out of

Interviewer: A big talking point in the fan base will’ll be looking for a new manager, can you provide us with an update on that on the processes that you’ve you’ve gone through and and when one can be announced,

Hunter: Yeah we’ve gone through a process we’ve you know we had other 60 applicants um we had about 150 of the football manager type applicants that have taken ball to the Champions League etc but yeah we quickly got that down to a to a group of five who we interviewed um and spoke to and that was that was to be fair I learned an awful lot you know I hadn’t actually interviewed a manager I’ve always tended to promote from within since 204 so that’s 20 years in that time whether it’s phones iPads presentations analysis all manner of um things have come into football at our level you know agents um advisors intermediaries you know so it was a very different process for me and I learned a lot

And of the five perhaps the person I thought might be favourite um it just seemed to me there’s a lot of there was a lot of noise around certain things the five that we spoke to all very very good in their own ways some perhaps had other commitments outside of football which would have made it quite difficult for them to give this club 100% of their attention and I think for some they were surprised by the size of the club’s infrastructure and that behind the scenes.

We narrowed it to two um we’ve gone through that process and um it’s quite strange you’ve asked for this interview today because um we will announce the new manager tomorrow [Wednesday].

I’m a great believer that I know people say we’re in the points business but I think we’re in the people business and it was important that we got the right people in the right areas um the right foundations the right structures um whether that’s the analysts whether that’s the kit people the medical staff you know the coaches the assistant manager and of course most importantly the manager and it’s been a it’s been a process that been meticulous I’ve worked closely with my sporting director Charlie Hunter and as I said I’ve learned an awful lot which I didn’t think I would and I’m coming up now 62 but you’re never too old to learn etc um on how people see things I’ve I feel that we need to maybe change direction a little bit.

There’s no point me saying I’m looking for the next Luke Garrard, I’m looking for you know the next manager that’s going to uh take us to a title or take us to promotion I want to play a brand of football here that the supporters will enjoy and those were things that were paramount in in our thinking and as I say you know it’s been it’s been a good process working with Charlie been a great process speaking with the managers I can’t thank you know the five that we’ve interviewed enough uh for giving us their time um and in the end you know we’ve got I’ve gone with our gut instincts on what we best feel is best for the club collective also knowing that other people have business commitments and and other commitments outside of football whether it’s children etc that maybe make them just not quite the right candidate at this time.

Listen to more of what he said in the YouTube video nearly the top of this article…

This is how fans reacted Boreham Wood appoint new manager Ross Jenkins as chairman Danny Hunter talks relegation, rebuild and season tickets…

@Rocco1882: Welcome Ross. Glad to have you on board and hopefully we can get out of this league sooner rather than later. Great to see Ricko back and Doyley helping with the management team. Go and smash it lads!

@mattsee04: Just looking on Wyscout Oxford City under Ross has the highest press intensity last season Completed 8th most passes And looking at his sides they are entertaining possession and high press based sides Now I’m excited for next season get some signings in

@ElsDerby: @RossJenkins_ Love to see it 👏🏽

@TheFootyScout2: Good appointment by my old friends Boreham Wood – Ross Jenkins will do well there and will be a good change and completely change the playstyle there – wouldn’t be surprised to see Zac McEachran and Ashby join there – will be an interesting summer

@MattHuddyHudson: Let’s hope for some attacking football. Good to have @Ricko707 back and to keep Doyley. Is @weareontheball staying by with the club ?

@WFCSean: Good god I’m old.

@DZee78: Loving this!

@Luke180101: Okay seems a decent appointment, New era let’s hope for the best👊🏻 UTW⚫️⚪️ Can’t wait for the season to start

@Samuel_G2406: Ricketts 😍

@90Leathers: Welcome Ross to the Wood Army, let’s hope we can get back to the National league. And obviously welcome back Ricko, great to see him back at the Wood. Wood Army!!!⚪⚫

@10sam_hORns: Love this

@NickMurphy1995: Loathe to say it but think this is a good appointment from Boreham Wood. Oxford may have finished bottom last season but, even when we tonked them, you could see the football he was trying to play. Just didn’t have the players for it. Think he’ll do ok in the next few years.

Related Topics
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in Boreham Wood