Comment: Hawks board Havant given Ritchie a fair chance

SACKED: Stuart Ritchie

STUART Ritchie has been sacked ten games into his eventful and ill fated spell as Havant and Waterlooville boss.

A mere 20 weeks after taking over, the man who led AFC Totton to a pair of promotions, a Wembley final and the FA Cup 2nd Round was dismissed by Hawks' vice-chair Jim Fallon, who kicked up the mother of all stinks to take him to Westleigh Park in the first place.

While the ambitious Hampshire outfit didn't set the world alight, they only lost half of their opening fixtures, a series of draws stalling early progress.

But this snap decision looks all the more incredible following a tumultuous six months where more than one club has been unsettled, along with the people within them – all the more galling now it was for nothing.

This sorry story begins back in March when Fallon, who helped to finance Totton's promotion push from the Southern Premier Division, went public in his criticism of the Stags' board before withdrawing his contribution.

He quickly turned up at Havant with Totton accusing their former benefactor of 'tapping up' players and representatives – Ritchie and assistant Shaun New were believed to be among them.

A month later, Ritchie and New had made the switch, leaving their old club managerless going into the Hampshire Senior Cup final against Eastleigh.

A raft of players were expected to follow suit, but the exodus never materialised as Ritchie kept faith with many of the personnel that had struggled in the previous campaign, escaping relegation to the Southern League with the last kick of the ball in 2011-12.

After adding Fallon's investment expectancy was high, within the Hawks' boardroom at least.

But the club suffered a double blow as early as June – Ritchie's right hand man New was suspended and subsequently sacked when he was convicted of theft and fraud from a previous employer.

Meanwhile, the Hawks moved to sign experienced midfielder Tom Davis who went on to accuse Fallon of offering 'under the table cash' in a bitter row that spilled over on Twitter and made headlines in the Non-League Paper, claims the club continue to deny. Davis subsequently signed for league rivals Tonbridge Angels.

After a promising pre-season, the Hawks were solid rather than impressive, drawing more than half of their league fixtures.

The turning point came in the last week when an FA Cup defeat at North Leigh (highlights below from hawksfconline), two divisions below Havant, was followed up with a 3-0 reverse at home to fellow Conference South strugglers Weston-Super-Mare on Tuesday. 

The Seagulls jumped out of the relegation places with a victory that dragged Ritchie's charges into the bottom three as fans chanted 'What a load of rubbish'.

In Ritchie's defence, it wasn't a 0-3 performance against Weston. Martin Slocombe's audacious 30-yard chip from the right wing put Havant on the back foot. Try as they might, the hosts were devoid of confidence and couldn't turn their pressure into an equaliser.

They succumbed to two late goals from substitutes Dean Grubb and Nat Pepperell who added gloss to the scoreline. Weston deserved their points, but Havant were not as far away as the result may have you believe.

After so much success at Testwood Park and Havant's drawn out protracted pursuit of Ritchie, it is shocking they only gave their new man ten matches.

Hawks fans have mixed feelings, some believing that Ritchie just wasn't the same boss without New.

But how many successful teams have been built after ten games? With so many players remaining from a previous regime, could this even be described as Ritchie's side? Not really. 

Enough has happened to drag the name of Havant and Waterlooville FC through the mud over these testing months and this decision only heaps on more dirt.

Whoever they appoint and however successful they may turn out to be, Havant cannot say Stuart Ritchie was given a fair chance. Coupled with the circus that preceded this panic measure how easy will it be to recruit a manager worth his salt?

The only certainty is uncertainty for Hawks fans, a feeling that must be quite familiar by now. As always, it is the fans who suffer. 

News: Four new faces, but Poole boss Killick is fuming

FOUR SIGN: But Killick wasn't happy.

Poole Town boss Tom Killick revealed four new signings after his side’s 4-3 friendly win over Christchurch this weekend, but blasted his players for a lack of focus in the game itself.

Diminutive forward Alex Baldacchino joins on dual registration terms, while Luke Burbidge joins from Hamworthy United and 18-year old right back Jordan O’Donnell joins from Salisbury City. The re-signing of Karim Lamalli completes the quartet.

Baldacchino spent the closing months of last season at Tatnam Road after notching 28 league goals in 35 games for Wessex League strugglers New Milton Town while also being signed for Havant and Waterlooville in the Conference South.

Killick said: “Alex joins us on the basis that if Havant & Waterlooville require him, then that’s Conference South football and he would have to give that priority, and I understand that.

BALDACCHINO: Dual registered

“Effectively it will be the same arrangement he had for most of last year with New Milton, but hopefully he will feature regularly for us until such time he is called on by Havant.”

Burbidge signs after a 22 goal Wessex League haul with Hamworthy United last season while O’Donnell has featured for youth teams at Portsmouth and Eastleigh as well as Salisbury.

Other trailists include Lee Chudy – the striker scored twice in the second 45 minutes on Saturday after netting 11 times in 15 leagueappearances for Hamworthy last season. Goalkeeper Michael Weatherall, who comes from the same youth side as O’Donnell, featured, as well as Bournemouth Poppies wing wizard Fawzi Saadi.

Though even after the influx of players, Killick admitted he was still looking to strengthen his frontline before the season starts with Clevedon Town at home on August 18^th.

“We were a little bit low on numbers but we’re gradually building it up – we are still short in a couple of areas but a one or two things might be happening this week.”

“We have got some good options up front. Alex Baldacchino is a very good player, Karim has got huge ability, Lee Chudy has shown up very well – I’ve got to have a word with Lee but I’m hopeful we’ll sort something out.

“We’ve got Luke Burbidge who can play out wide as well, but I probably want to bring someone in who has played at a higher level to give us a real focal point.

“It’s difficult because those types of players are in very short supply, which we’ve already found to our cost over the summer, but we’ll endeavour to bring someone of that calibre in over the next few weeks if we can.”

As for the game, Killick was less than impressed as Graham Kemp’s plucky Christchurch side took the lead three times. Chudy’s brace eventually sealed victory for the hosts, but couldn’t prevent the side receiving a tongue lashing from their boss.

“It was a disappointing day for us, we were awful, it’s the worst we’ve been. We were sloppy, lazy and careless, just a really below par performance – the goals we let in were laughable really.

“Our attitude was all wrong today – we had Yeovil Tuesday, Eastleigh Thursday and then Christchurch, and the players approached it in completely the wrong manner, you could see that in the performance. It was unacceptable.

“The difficulty is I know we’ll be better in our next game against AFC Bournemouth because the players will like playing in that game, but your attitude has to be right week in week out, you can’t just pick and choose and perform in the big games.

“All of them disappointed me, and apart from two or three of the younger lads, none of them came out with any credit.

“It was a disastrous performance from our point of view – with all due respect to Christchurch we should be controlling the game from start to finish and winning it convincingly, so we’re upset about that and I hope the players are upset – we’ve got to knuckle down with our training this week.

“We have Bournemouth and Salisbury next, but for me Parley is our next test because I want to see what our attitude is like in that game.

“Are we just going to turn up and stroll about like we did against Christchurch? We won’t accept that again, so Parley is a game I’m looking forward to see how the players react and see what we’re made of that day. Attitude is the be all and end all and that’s what we’re going to look at.”