Pic: Gainsborough Trinity FC
DAVE FRECKLINGTON says he wouldn’t have sacrificed the chance to take Spalding United to promotion if he didn’t think Gainsborough Trinity could soon mix it with the National League North big-boys.
The 40-year-old has traded a title shoot-out in the Evo-Stik NPL South for what on the face of it looks a serious scrap to stay in the division.
Frecklington replaces Dom Roma who resigned at the start of the month saying pressure at home meant he couldn’t remain at Northolme.
The new man is giving up a lot by moving 60 miles across Lincolnshire, although it’s a step up of two leagues.
Spalding are chasing down Shaw Lane, sitting just three points behind the leaders. They have named their former assistant manager Chris Rawlinson as his replacement.
Frecklington says it was a hard decision to take a step back from a push for promotion but knows his move into Step 2 represents career progression.
He said: “I had to weigh everything up. I’m ambitious, and managing at this level of the game has always been a big goal of mine.
“You only need to look at the size of the clubs in the National League North to see what a strong league it is and I wanted to be a part of that.
“Sometimes you just need to grab opportunities when they present themselves, and this is a massive one for me. I wouldn’t have given Spalding up lightly after the season they have had but I am very proud to have been given this chance. The ambition is to compete in a great league and I’m excited by it.”
After bringing Terry Fleming in as his assistant, Frecklington has called on his new side to pull out all the stops in the coming weeks and fire themselves clear of the bottom three.
“We’ve got to turn the season around as quickly as possible and we have to get up that table as fast as we can,” he said.
“I know we can get the club moving in the right direction but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
