Presteigne St Andrews FC recently announced John Haycox has been appointed the club’s new first-team manager and so we have taken the chance to have a chat with him.
What was it about the Presteigne job that had attracted John in the first place?
“Obviously, it’s a club that I know very well anyway; I did sign there many years ago,” said John.
“I made some great friends there and it’s been my ‘second club’, really – Woofferton is my main local club but I’ve always had a soft spot for Presteigne and I know a lot of people who are part of the club now.
“So, it was good when I got the call and hopefully I can help them out a bit.”
The new manager has appointed his coaching staff with Rob Morgan joining him as his assistant and Dave Cooper as goalkeeping coach and he feels they’ll bring both local knowledge and experience to their roles.
John knows the club has been on a bad run in recent seasons and he’s well aware of the size of the task facing him.
“Presteigne is all but a fallen giant in local football, isn’t it?
“When I went there many years ago they were a very good side but it has been a tricky couple of years.
“When I was talking to [club chairman] Mark [Weiland] I pointed out I’ve done a lot of coaching with young lads who are coming to 16-17 years old now so hopefully the plan is that over the next couple of years to start trying to rebuild and get Presteigne back to where they should be.”
Club chairman Mark Weiland is delighted John has agreed to take on the first team role:
“I have known John for years, mainly from when he had a spell as a player up at Presteigne,” he said.
“I am delighted he’s coming to Llanandras Park as he has great passion for football and Presteigne F.C.
“He’s a young manager and time is on his side to come in and build a successful side at Presteigne.
“We’ve still got some quality local footballers and with the players John hopes to bring in we are looking in the right direction,” he added.
“We’ll be aiming for quite a young side – early twenties and basically lads we can try to work with,” said John.
“We are after players who want to stay so we can try to build and hopefully this year compete and then look again for next year.”