New Manager

[Grassbank]

We have to put our faith in the Board members that sat through the interview process and made the unanimous decision. Only they knew who the other candidates were and what they both offered and expected.

Ben knows and is known by the club. He has close ties to the academy. He knows the board and he knows the regular volunteers that work so hard at the ground. He knows our history and he knows how high our expectations are. The statement issued by Margate indicates that they were happy for him to have another season to bring them promotion. That may have been an easier task than the one that he has now chosen.

It will be interesting to see who is on the retain list and what new recruits appear during the summer season.

I think we mostly agree that we needed a change. It did not happen in the manner that we expected, but it happened. I wish Ben well in his new role and hope that he has a very successful time as manager of Dartford Football Club.

[DartfordHero]

I wasnt thrilled by this announcement but listening to that full interview he is saying all the right things and he deserves the chance that the board has given him. I do think it'll have been a hard season for whoever came into the club as the money from the leagues is filtering further and further down and even coming up through the leagues below us. As much as Princes Park can be rocking when we are playing well and winning those big games, it can also be a very toxic environment when things arent going well so hopefully more positive vibes than negative this season

[Spike]

If he can get through 10 games without whining about the budget, I'll pin his picture on my wall.

[Park Life]

If he can get through 10 games without whining about the budget, I'll pin his picture on my wall.

Lets hope so, it would be the first time in just over four years.....

[WillDfc42]

great interview

[ozymandias]

I hope the lad has something up his sleeve and pulls this off. I don't know what his contacts are. I am assuming he's bringing in his team??
But to be honest I wasn't over the moon.
My pal at Ramsgate commented 'Oh dear'. But then there is a love/hate relationship between the two clubs. He also says that the Ram's may be looking at a couple of our players. Which isn't surprising.
I must admit, my Warrilow prediction was closer than a lot on here and it was tongue in cheek.

[Trevor B]

Having supported the Darts for 73 years I have seen or come across most situations in those seasons good bad or different and it goes for managers too.
Too old to understand which managers were in contention this time around and not knowing what was on offer to them, I can only hope that the board have made the right choice and I am prepared to accept our new manager and no doubt purchase my season ticket
My thoughts on this may change depending on when I hear who has re-signed for us along with new signings.

[rambo]

We are a club on a downward spiral so this appointment is a huge gamble. However , Ben is a good player and his heart is in the right place as regards DFC and if we play as he describes in his first interview then hopefully he will be a success and the fans will come back to PP.
The Board should now concentrate on a dialogue and ACTIONS to get the young fans back in the stadium. There is such a thing as good stewarding and if carried out should avoid the need for knee jerk Board reactions.
I hope we do not need to talk about the Board in the coming season.

[DA Mikey]

I’m fairly pleased with this appointment. It is a gamble of sorts, but short of getting a PL manager in, isn’t any appointment? Ben has great rapport with fans, is erudite and knows what this club is / should be. Just need to know how to say his name…

[MickW]

Well worth the gamble, if indeed that's what it is.
He's done good work in the academy, managed a lower league club with some success so a move to an underachieving club in a higher league seems like a natural progression to me.
Young hungry home grown manager - what more could you ask for.
Far better than considering an ex player with no experience or an old under achiever.
Welcome Ben and good luck for the coming season.

[The 5th Searcher]

Although I’ve already said I’m not happy with this appointment I may be being a bit harsh and unfair to Ben but I was hoping for a higher level of quality manager.

We have to give Ben a fair chance to see how he gets on, what players he retains & new players he signs and then see how things go both pre season and the first 10 or so games of the season.

He’s always done very well with the academy teams in developing them and turning them into football playing teams that can win things and his record at Margate has been ok so fingers crossed he can turn things around for us and turn us into an on the deck footballing side again which can hopefully start to win things again.
Plus we are more likely to start seeing some wingers back at the club again which we haven’t seen for a while now apart from Evan that joined us back end of the season.

A big thing is going to be who he will bring in as his assistant and backroom team. If the names mentioned to me are right then I will await the comments and possible fireworks.

Today is a fresh start and let’s see how things go but I think Ben knows he’s got a big challenge ahead of him probably starting from tonight as he starts to have chats with players.

[Lars Resort]

I don't know how old Ben is as putting himself out there on the pitch if it comes to it. But he is very good at dead ball situations around the 18 yard box.
But we have to give him the backing.

[WillDfc42]

Although I’ve already said I’m not happy with this appointment I may be being a bit harsh and unfair to Ben but I was hoping for a higher level of quality manager.

We have to give Ben a fair chance to see how he gets on, what players he retains & new players he signs and then see how things go both pre season and the first 10 or so games of the season.

He’s always done very well with the academy teams in developing them and turning them into football playing teams that can win things and his record at Margate has been ok so fingers crossed he can turn things around for us and turn us into an on the deck footballing side again which can hopefully start to win things again.
Plus we are more likely to start seeing some wingers back at the club again which we haven’t seen for a while now apart from Evan that joined us back end of the season.

A big thing is going to be who he will bring in as his assistant and backroom team. If the names mentioned to me are right then I will await the comments and possible fireworks.

Today is a fresh start and let’s see how things go but I think Ben knows he’s got a big challenge ahead of him probably starting from tonight as he starts to have chats with players.

Surely he isn’t bringing flanagan with him

[Park Life]

Although I’ve already said I’m not happy with this appointment I may be being a bit harsh and unfair to Ben but I was hoping for a higher level of quality manager.

We have to give Ben a fair chance to see how he gets on, what players he retains & new players he signs and then see how things go both pre season and the first 10 or so games of the season.

He’s always done very well with the academy teams in developing them and turning them into football playing teams that can win things and his record at Margate has been ok so fingers crossed he can turn things around for us and turn us into an on the deck footballing side again which can hopefully start to win things again.
Plus we are more likely to start seeing some wingers back at the club again which we haven’t seen for a while now apart from Evan that joined us back end of the season.

A big thing is going to be who he will bring in as his assistant and backroom team. If the names mentioned to me are right then I will await the comments and possible fireworks.

Today is a fresh start and let’s see how things go but I think Ben knows he’s got a big challenge ahead of him probably starting from tonight as he starts to have chats with players.

Surely he isn’t bringing flanagan with him

Wait and see....

[Dicky Dart]

I’m neither over- nor underwhelmed. It’s where we are now. We no longer bring in proven ability, whether it’s players or managers, we just acquire potential. And out of all the unproven possibilities, Ben Greenhalgh is arguably the best choice. It might work out (obviously hope it does), or it might not. Remains to be seen what happens in the next couple of months, but I have no expectation of promotion or anything near it.

[DA Mikey]

Surely he isn’t bringing flanagan with him

Wait and see....

This feels like the “as long as it’s not Henly from Folkestone” moment all over again!

[Ozytalksbull]

You seem to forget that the Leader of Dartford Council is Jeremy Kite OTB. He is also embedded in DFC and instrumental in bringing The Darts home, he also got the club a 100 year lease with the option to extend. The club are also heavily invested in youth development that is the central hub of the community. So there you go PalaceDart aka OzyTalksBull. We ain't going anywhere soon and the future is still good for the long term.

I'm more concerned about the short term, where a quick decision needs to be made on the new manager. The fact that we have not got our man yet suggests that there is some muddled thinking from our board. Let's face it, the last two manager's have been very poor and constantly complained about the budget to offset their own abilities in football management.

Come on powers to be, let's get this thing done and dusted before tomorrow. From the outside looking in, it ain't a good look.

Thanks for your very well put together reply

Yes I knew that but you my friend should know what councils can and will do
I sincerely hope Dartford have a great season
I’d say that’s a good appointment for the level the club is at

But are the board ever going to take the bull by the horns and get the club to the top of the pyramid again

And it’s all good having a good academy if you give those young players the chance
Thank you for a level headed reply
Ozy aka

[Park Life]

I don't know Ben but thought his interview was pretty good and he said some good things, to me it hinted at trying to bring back the old days of playing for the club/badge as we're a "special club". But it's only special us, not anybody else. So in that respect we're no different to any other club and whilst it would be great if he can, i think the days of players staying at a club for years and playing for the badge are well gone as times have changed.

I'm also not sure how people saying he "knows the club" will actually help, what will matter is knowing this league/the one above, player recruitment and managing/coaching them. So on that front i'll keep my fingers crossed and wait and see.

The main reason of concern for me though is Ben is relativley new to management. As far as i can tell he briefly acted as caretaker and assistant manager three/four years ago at Margate when they got relegated from the IPL. He then became manager two seasons ago losing in the play off's in his first season before missing out on the play offs last season, both in the ILSE. That is very similar to our record over the last four seasons, albeit in lower divisions.

Taking that into account i was expecting a more experienced manager, of course some will say we've had experienced managers the last four seasons and it's not worked out so what's to lose, and i accept that. But i feel this is a MASSIVE gamble by the club and because of what's happened over the last four seasons, we'll need to get off to a decent start as time will not be on anyones side.

I genuinely hope he's succesful and it may prove to be a good appointment but as Dicky Dart said, do we now have any real expectation of promotiion or anywhere near it?

I can't help the way i feel and i may be wrong, but atm i'm not optimistic, and that's not all down to just this appointment........

[Bagdhad Billy]

A full time manager at the club I feel was desperately needed and we have that in Ben. How the appointment pans out nobody knows however he is a dartford man and will bring an expectation that the players turn up every week and play for the badge instead of passing a coin to each other during the match.

Taking it easy against poor opposition and losing despite having more ability as proved against the top teams needs to not be an option next year if we are able to retain some of our better players and build on the crap ones that hopefully leave this summer.

The previous 2 managers were both 1 season wonders who failed miserably when the buck stoped with them having poor recruitment, team selection, crowd engagement, listening to Ady every week saying how hard Canvey island and every other club were going to be as opponents alongside saying how amazing the fans were made me cringe it always felt so fake.

Ben has my backing I just hope the board don’t feck it up again with crap comms to supporters, no budget ambition, not engaging with the community and alienating the youth every second week by stopping admission just bcus they could.

If you have intel from the police that handbags are going to be exchanged just fecking segregate and let everyone in !