Whitton praised as duo confirmed

Brentwood Town have paid tribute to former manager Les Whitton after confirming the appointment of former Aveley head coach Adam Flanagan and Blues skipper Danny Dafter as the new management team at the Ryman North’s Blues on Friday.

Whitton, pictured, took over at the Brentwood Arena in the summer and left with the Blues second from bottom after winning just two league games since August. After confirming his successors, club spokesman Ken Hobbs praised Whitton for the work he’d done and success he'd brought to the club in tough circumstances.

He said: "Les and his management team rebuilt the first team squad following all but one of the previous season's first team squad leaving. It has been a difficult situation for Les to assemble a new squad from scratch capable of producing positive results in a very competitive League.

"Les managed to implement a change over in the right direction and the club now have a very young, but obviously very inexperienced squad for the future. But results have not been kind and Blues sit in the bottom two in the table despite playing some very good football. It is true to say that results have not been kind to the time and effort put in by Les and his coaching staff.

"Les felt he was unable to take the club forward further at this time and we are grateful for the time and effort Les has put in during his third stint at the club. Les is a very good coach with sound football knowledge at this level and we wish him good luck in the future."

Former Blues midfielder Dafter and Dagenham & Redbridge defender Flanagan played together at Dartford. They face a baptism of fire on Saturday with a trip to Waltham Forest as the league's bottom two go head to head.

Dafter is a former Brentwood Town captain having first played for the club in the 2006-07 season. A tough tackling midfielder, he's also played for East Thurrock United and Concord Rangers.

As well as the Daggers and Darts, Flanagan played for Gillingham, Hastings and Folkestone. He left his role as head coach at Brentwood’s Ryman North rivals Aveley to team up with Dafter.

Town say the pair will be assisted by Chris Smith who held a similar position under Whitton and also has a lot of experience with the club’s youth set-up.