Steve King - New Manager

[UpTheDarts]

Felt like this deserved it's own thread.

The Directors of Dartford Football Club are delighted to announce that Steve King has been appointed as first team manager in a deal that will see him steer the club’s promotion and community development ambitions until the end of the 2022 season.

Steve needs little introduction in the world of league and non-league football. He has overseen significant progress at a number of clubs and has an extraordinary track record of securing league and cup success. He left Welling United in June 2019 having delivered on his remit to steer the club to the National League South play-offs and narrowly missing out on promotion to Woking.

Club co-Chairman Steve Irving said…

“No-one should have any doubt that Steve’s arrival is a statement that the football club we all love, and some of us have served for decades, is determined not to stand still but to grow steadily and surely towards our goal of league football. Running this club has never been about riding a wave of boom and bust but about taking stewardship of a club that has been around since 1888 and steering it professionally so that we are a credit to our supporters, our community and our sport.”

“Steve has achieved success at clubs with similar budgets to ours. Today, he has been given, and accepted, the challenge of securing success within the resources we have to reach the level we want to be. He gave the board an impressive, credible and deliverable vision to provide not just the success we deserve but also to extend our reputation as a club with strong values and a belief that football can transform lives and communities.”

“I would like to add my appreciation to all those fine candidates who applied for the position and especially to the number we invited to meet us. The standard of professionalism, enthusiasm and love for the sport that we encountered through many hours of interview was astonishing and it has renewed all of us with a sense that we are part of a game that attracts some of the finest and most decent people in sport.”

Steve King will take over from Tony Burman as first team manager with immediate effect but the Board have asked Tony to see-through the preparations for Saturday’s league fixture and oversee the game against Oxford City. The manager will begin preparations for the important FA Cup Tie against Kingstonian FC to be be played on 19th October.

The manager has welcomed the opportunity to continue with the successful supporter forums at Princes Park and information about the first of these will follow in due course.

[Svenners]

Interesting timing, wonder if he would of been on the ebbsfleet shortlist.

[Skip]

A very encouraging statement from Steve Irving. I’m delighted with the appointment and encouraged by the remit described in the statement. This is an excellent opportunity to allow the club to continue to grow the off field activities that help support the first team success. Steve and TB and the board working together for the overall benefit of our fantastic club.

[Mad Mod]

Brilliant News. Well done Dartford FC board!

[The Don]

Great news, great club, great future! Welcome to the King of Princes Park

[DA Mikey]

Welcome aboard Steve and the very best of fortunes be with you during your tenure at DFC.
Steve has a significant initial challenge regarding our attacking line, so it will be interesting to see how he addresses this.

[Park Life]

Absolutely delighted with this appointment.
A massive well done to the club for loads of reasons and whilst nobody can guarantee how things will go they can't ever be accused of not appointing the most qualified applicant available.
Really excited about the future as we are very well run club with solid foundations in place and I believe we have just appointed a manager with the qualities to take us further.
IMO we have always sold ourselves short and underestimated how big we are but this is a statement of intent to take the club on to bigger and better things.
I'm absolutely buzzing.
COYD

[Llamaman]

Starts off with a 1 match touchline ban leaving T. B. on duty this Saturday. A new manager often sits out their first game, especially when appointed so close to a game, so doesn't have much effect. Good luck to Steve King in his new role, interesting times ahead.

[Rambo]

Wonderful news , well done to the board for making a great decision. I am sure the fans will fall in love with Steve King very quickly

[Trevor B]

Congratulations to the board on appointing Steve as the manager much to the delight of most of the forum posters I would imagine.
I am not up to speed with any of the suggested managers or how they have performed in the past so didn't post my thoughts but suffice to say that reading this forum has convinced me that we have the right man for the job and I am looking forward to seeing what changes he implements in order to move us up the league.
A good first test for him though will be our cup game and with the loss of Sheringham up front the players selected for this Saturday by Tony will need to perform well to ensure they are in the starting line up for the cup or we could see changes made or new faces appearing.
Interesting times ahead and as a complete layman about his previous management history I cannot wait to see how Steve goes about developing DFC in the future and proving that this forum backed the right man for the job.