fbpx
Connect with us

Non League

Manager gets life ban from club after urinating in drain

A non league manager gets a life ban from a club that he was in charge of after being caught on CCTV urinating in a drain.

Jordan Stocks had been in charge of Northern Counties East League Division One side Swallownest for three years in charge but a few weeks back, his departure was confirmed.

At one point during his tenure, he was still able to manage Swallownest in the FA Vase in September 2020 from the woodland behind the ground because of the ban he had been served with.

Reports claim that he was involved in an odd stand-off lasting since August with the trustees of the Miners Welfare which owns the facility with the club paying out rent in order to use the facilities.

Jordan Stocks has now opened up about “urinating down a drain” after getting caught in an out of bounds building on his own when the pandemic was at its most dangerous.

He says he was given one of the most extreme punishments possible by the trustees who spotted him in where he shouldn’t be.

“It is like they (the trustees) took a sledgehammer to crack a nut,” Stocks revealed to Non League Yorkshire.

“It was during the first Covid wave so the Welfare and pubs were still restricted about opening and we were playing Jubilee Sports away (in a friendly) and one of my responsibilities as manager sometimes included washing and drying the kits.

“That morning I went to pick the kit up and I was able to get it because I had a key. Obviously the Welfare building was shut so I had no access to that side of the facility. I opened the door to the laundry room which is literally a box room. I put the stuff outside the door and I needed the toilet. Now rather than me going into rooms which we were told not to go into because of Covid, I actually used the open drain that is linked to the toilet.
“There was nobody present. There was nobody at the Welfare or in the car park, bar me. One of the trustees has watched it all on CCTV.

“During my six years at the club there have always been little bits of misinterpretations between myself and the Welfare, not to a degree of being nasty. There’s been little isolated incidents where we have had mis-communications and situations have developed and we have had to work through it and we have worked through it.

“Then obviously the urinating situation has developed and they’ve not offered me the chance to explain it or a fair trial or hearing. They’ve thrown the book at me and banned me for life. I went to see one of the trustees on Friday to try and clarify the situation because I didn’t want to step down and I was trying to prepare a squad for the home game on the 19th December but he just said ‘you’re banned for life’.”

“The planned approach from the football club was that we were always going to fight the ban because we felt it was so ridiculous,” he added.

“We hoped people would see that it was madness. We were going to reassess it in December and obviously the lockdown in November helped the situation because it relaxed us from having fixtures. We thought that by January 2nd we might have got it to a point where the ban was lifted.

“The December fixtures were put back on and I had exhausted all options (in terms of talking to the trustees). The football club said they didn’t want me to leave, but they presented to me that it was an untenable situation which it was and they said they felt the only option was for me to resign.

“I never actually offered my resignation but I agreed the decision was there to be taken. I agreed that for the benefit of the football club it was the right decision and I feel that (the football club committee) Wayne Coyle, Mick Kent and Richard Lill had no other option. I feel for them because they have done a fantastic job and they have done everything I have ever asked for.”
The manager had no choice but to watch his Swallownest host their FA Vase fixture against Ashton Town within the bushes and trees, looking through nettles and barbed wire to eventually see them come out 1-0 winners on Saturday the 19th of September.

Swallownest manager watching from the trees

“There was no way because of the hard work I had put into the side and the club that I was going to miss the FA Vase game,” he adds.

“I went to the lengths of taking a step ladder and a bottle of water into the field next door and watched the game. There’s lots of trees, barbed wire and lots of thorny bushes.

“It was a long walk down the side of the pitch and there were a couple of openings I could use. I knew it was a public bridal path because I live that way so there was no stopping me accessing the field. It was just a bit uncomfortable and unprofessional. But that’s the lengths I went to to watch my football club that I loved.

“The players have always backed me and they do to this day. They know how crazy football can be and they thought it was a bit of a joke. The home support who know me were all shouting and taking pictures and it went all over Twitter.

“The opposition clocked onto it and they asked my assistant Lloyd (Gelsthorpe) ‘who’s that idiot behind the dugout’? Lloyd said ‘you won’t believe it but it is our gaffer’. One of their blokes came up to me and asked me the story and he couldn’t get his head round it. He said it was just mad the lengths people will go to to watch a football game.

“We’ve had a lot of away games since but some of our home league games have been night games. Because it is woodland it is not safe to be watching night games in that environment. I fell unlucky in that respect so Lloyd has taken charge of home games.”

He resigned from the club in December 2020 following the row as he was still unable to attend home matches and the standoff couldn’t be resolved.

www.fanbanter.co.uk – Fan reaction to the latest football news, gossip & funnies

Chairman Mick Kent said in a statement: “Today is a sad day. Jordan has a real genuine love for the club and has given us his all in the five years as a player and then as manager.

“We have been fortunate to have the services of an excellent manager who has built a strong young squad. All at the club really appreciate all he has done, and we wish him well going forward.”

This is what fans had to say on his departure as the non league manager gets a life ban from the club after urinating in a drain…

@markbwbfc: Done a cracking job, made Swallownest a difficult team to beat and a shame that something non football related has brought his tenure to a premature end.

@CraigWalley: Shock – what a job this man did all the best Jordan

@leedanysz: Wasn’t expecting that. All the lads chaps, done a fantastic job within the club

@aaron_picko: All the best @jord_8 good luck

@ColliverM: Terrible news. Done a fantastic job. Good luck my mate.

@swfcsc: Thought I’d seen some mental stuff at Hillsborough over the years. But here’s a dedicated manager being forced to step down because he had a wee outside (down a drain) when the toilets were locked. Banned from the ground by the Miners Welfare. Non League is crazy

@JSquires4: Can’t thank these 2 blokes enough for what they’ve done for me in the past 2 years of being at the club. Helped with things on and off the pitch. All coming to an end because of some pillock who’d rather create issues than let them slide.

@olliegrady123: Can’t put anymore then what everyone else has wrote Tbf , clearly shows how well thought of both Stocksy and Lloyd are to the club , gutted it’s ended in this manor 2 top class managers and even better blokes

@jay_evison: Sad that the actions of one bitter man will have probably ruined the club.

@mwest1986: Huge mistake this!! Done a fantastic job and got lads that give everything for him

@ForeverAYellow: A shame that the manager resigned as he gets a life ban from the club after urinating in a drain.

@WednesdayRetro: This is pathetic..good luck to Jordan in the future

@PercivalDavide: Great story. What a shame there are narrow minded people. I know Jordan very well and he’s one of the nicest lads in non league and Junior football. Someone needs to have a word with the trustees !!

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in Non League