New duo to outline survival plans

By David Watters

Cray Wanderers

Cray Wanderers manager Keith Bird and his assistant Mike Paye will tell the Ryman club's fans that they are under no illusions about the task they face when they meet them on Saturday.

Bird and Paye took over at the end of September after leaving their posts in charge of Bromley's reserves and U18s side - pictured - and are set to sit down with supporters after the Ryman Premier's Wands host Hendon in the FA Trophy's First Qualifying Round.

Since taking over from long-serving manager Ian Jenkins who'd managed the club for 14 years, the pair have guided the Wands to two wins from three outings. Despite their early success, they know there is a long way to go lift the club off the bottom of the league and out of the automatic relegation places.

Bird, who's worked with Paye for the last eight years, is looking forward to his first chance to outline their plans to fans and share their hopes for the future.

He said: "We are really looking forward to meeting the fans. Things have been very busy since taking over and it is really important to us to keep the fans informed and to give us a chance to update them on some of the changes we have made already. We are in a fight and all in it together so the fans are going to be a key member of the squad as the 12th man."

Wanderers Chairman Gary Hillman will also be meeting with supporters after their Trophy clash and said: "There has been a lot of upheaval recently. So it is important that myself, Keith and Mike explain to our supporters where we are at, where we hope to be at the end of the season and how we hope to get there."

As well as turning things around on the pitch, Hillman is hopeful of changing things off it too with new plans to return home from exile due to be submitted to their local authority soon.

He added: "A revised planning application to bring the club home to the Cray’s will be submitted to Bromley Council later this year. There is still a lot of work to be done but I hope to be able to share some of the detail with the fans at the forum."

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