By Mark Carruthers
Tony Fawcett insisted he has nothing to prove after being named as new manager of Ebac Northern League club Whickham.
The former Whitley Bay joint-manager was named as Mark Convery’s successor on Saturday night and will take sole charge of a Division One club for the first time in his career.
Fawcett impressed during his first managerial role with second-tier side Ryton and Crawcrook Albion before leaving Kingsley Park to work alongside Derek Forrest with Whitley Bay over the last eighteen months.
Fawcett stepped down from his role at Hillheads last month and cited a desire to take sole charge of a club as the motivation behind his decision.
He will now focus his efforts on improving Whickham’s fortunes after the Lang Jacks have lost four of their last five league fixtures and currently sit in fifteenth place in the Division One table.
Fawcett is relishing the opportunity he has been given and is determined to put his own stamp on the squad over the coming weeks.
“I don’t think I have anything to prove to anyone including myself,” he explained.
“I am pretty confident in what I helped put together at Whitley Bay and the knowledge I gained there and at Ryton and Crawcrook will help me with Whickham.
“It’s just about winning games for us and I think the core of the squad can help us do that.
“They just need a little bit of support and a little bit of tweaking, we need a strong squad and that’s not quite there at the moment so we will look to recruit.
“I wouldn’t be at the club if we didn’t want to kick on and challenge.
“The ethos at the club when they were promoted a few years back was about battling, making it difficult and being a collective unit.
“That is something we will make happen once again and we will find that identity.”
Seaham Red Star will be the visitors to the First Mortgage Glebe Sports Ground next Saturday as Fawcett’s reign gets underway with a tough-looking challenge against Mark Collingwood’s side.
The new Lang Jacks boss is targeting an immediate improvement and has a longer-term aim of challenging for promotion into the Northern Premier League club over the coming years.
“At the moment it’s about trying to finish as high up the table as we can, that’s the immediate target for us.
“But wee want to challenge for promotion in the future, I wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t the aim.
“We aren’t near promotion this year, that’s for sure, but we can try and finish top half.
“There is still plenty to play for this season, but it will also be about putting foundations in place for next season too.
“The backroom staff will help, we will train regularly and we want the players to enjoy their time at the club.”
