Nantwich Town appoint two former EFL stars to become new management pairing

Nantwich Town appoint two former EFL stars in Ritchie Sutton and Gary Taylor-Fletcher to become their new management pairing.

Taylor-Fletcher’s former teammate first moved to the Dabbers in July in a player-coach role, but poor form led to Dave Cooke leaving his role as first-team manager at the start of September, as was “mutually agreed” by both parties.

Nantwich play their football in the Northern Premier League Premier Division and languish just one place and two points above the relegation zone.

🗣️“𝙄’𝙢 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙉𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙬𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙏𝙤𝙬𝙣”

Ritchie Sutton shares his thoughts after he was appointed as Nantwich Town manager, along with Gary Taylor-Fletcher 👇 pic.twitter.com/uCPygOHtRp

— Nantwich Town FC (@TheDabbers) September 21, 2022

CLUB STATEMENT

We are delighted to announce that Ritchie Sutton has been appointed as the new Nantwich Town Manager, along with Gary Taylor-Fletcher.

Acting Chairman John Dunning said: “we have been overwhelmed by the quality of applicants and interest in the position. We are conscious of the importance of retaining the soul, locality, empathy and some of the key elements put in place over the past years that have seen us continue to develop in all areas and create more memorable and successful occasions, whilst remaining competitive at this level and in Ritchie we feel that we have a young enthusiastic, highly qualified manager, with a fresh outlook and ideas, and with a personal history, association and understanding of the club and its ideals and culture, but most importantly a shared vision and passion for our future ambitions and development”.

John Dunning also added “We are also delighted to have obtained the services of Gary Taylor-Fletcher who is a highly respected and qualified coach and the experience that Gary has gained in a distinguished playing career from non-league to the Premier League, along with taking Bangor City to the Europa League in his first managerial position, will be a great asset to the club and I am sure that you will all join us in making Ritchie and Gary welcome as they undertake the exciting task of taking us on this next exciting chapter of our journey”.

Ritchie Sutton said: “I am delighted and honoured to be given the opportunity to be Manager of Nantwich Town Football Club. What myself and Gary have achieved over the past two weeks along with the rest of the staff and players with the full backing of the board is something that we are all immensely proud of.

“Nantwich is a club extremely close to my heart having been a player here and being a part of the community most of my life and collectively we are looking to use our passion and knowledge along with the ethos of the club and the supporters to build on the excellent foundations that are already in place at Nantwich Town.

“We’re looking forward to getting started on this fantastic project and start by preparing for this Saturday’s match against Whitby Town and I’d like to thank everyone in advance for your overwhelming and continued support.”

Ritchie Sutton’s career

Youth career
1997–2005 – Crewe Alexandra
Senior career
2005–2007 – Crewe Alexandra
2005 → Leek Town (loan) – 9 games (0 goals)
2005–2006 → Leek Town (loan) – 5 games (0 goals)
2006 → Stafford Rangers (loan) – 2 games (0 goals)
2006–2007 → Stafford Rangers (loan) – 37 games (0 goals)
2007–2008 – Stafford Rangers – 40 games (0 goals)
2008–2009 – Northwich Victoria – 4 games (0 goals)
2008 → Halifax Town (loan)
2009 – Halifax Town
2009–2010 – Nantwich Town
2010–2011 – Port Vale – 11 games (0 goals)
2011–2015 – Mansfield Town – 136 games (0 goals)
2015–2019 – Tranmere Rovers – 91 games (7 goals)
2016 → Barrow (loan) – 10 games (0 goals)
2019–2020 – Morecambe – 29 games (1 goal)
2020–2022 – Altrincham – 21 games (1 goal)
2021–2022 → Alfreton Town (loan) – 3 games (0 goals)
2021–2022 → Alfreton Town (loan) – 23 games (0 goals)
2022 – Nantwich Town

Gary Taylor-Fletcher’s career

1999–2001 – Northwich Victoria – 43 games (11 goals)
2001 → Hull City (loan) – 5 games (0 goals)
2001–2003 – Leyton Orient – 21 games (1 goal)
2001–2002 → Grays Athletic (loan) – 4 games (3 goals)
2002 → Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) – 3 games (1 goal)
2002–2003 → Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) – 5 games (0 goals)
2003–2005 – Lincoln City – 85 games (27 goals)
2005–2007 – Huddersfield Town – 84 games (22 goals)
2007–2013 – Blackpool – 215 games (36 goals)
2013–2015 – Leicester City – 22 games (3 goals)
2014 → Sheffield Wednesday (loan) – 4 games (0 goals)
2015 → Millwall (loan) – 10 games (0 goals)
2015–2016 – Tranmere Rovers – 21 games (2 goals)
2016–2017 – Accrington Stanley – 4 games (0 goals)
2017–2018 – Bangor City – 34 games (10 goals)
2018 – Llandudno – 2 games (3 goals)
2018–2019 – Bangor City
Total – 562 games (119 goals)

Teams managed
2017 – Bangor City
2018–2019 – Bangor City
2019 – Llandudno