Faversham Town caused a sensation when they sacked boss Tommy Warrilow over the Easter weekend with the Lilywhites on the verge of the Isthmian South East play-off places.
Midfielder Frannie Collin, with the assistance of former Maidstone United and Hythe Town boss Steve Watt, were put in charge until the end of the season, and after two wins to start and neighbours Sittingbourne taking just one point from their last two games, Collin and co head for Sevenoaks Town this weekend just a point behind their Swale neighbours with two games left.
Going into the weekend, KSN caught up with Collin and asked if his feet had touched the ground yet?
“It came completely out of the blue over Easter, and the Chairman has made a decision. He called me on the Saturday after he’d spoken to Tom and it was all thrown on me a little bit to make a decision, but I think that that’s how these things come about in football.”
“Unfortunately, it’s how it works as you never get a chance to go in anywhere without someone losing their job! It was completely out of the blue – if anything was going to change, I felt that it may have come in the summer, but that’s how football works!”
“I was just as surprised as anyone else. We went up with me playing last year and been part of the staff since the injury that ended my season and being sixth in the table having just gone up last year, I can completely understand the surprise.”
“Tom has done an amazing job at this football Club! I’ve known him for a very long time and there is no animosity between us… the Chairman has made a decision to change things on the run since Christmas, and he felt it needed change!”
“We now have to crack on with these last two games and see where it takes us really – they’ve been great in the first two and now onto Sevenoaks on Saturday.”
“It’s great that I can call on Watty (Steve Watt) while I’m in the job. When I was asked if I wanted the job, I was asked if I wanted OB (Alex O’Brien) next to me, but he decided that after being at Tom’s side for so long, it wouldn’t feel right and so he left meaning that I was straight on the phone to Watty.”
“I am fortunate that I have someone with his level of experience, who is a mate and is happy to come straight in and give me a hand to the end of the season to see how that fits before sitting down in the summer! I think the boys have taken to Watty and love his enthusiasm.”
Faversham go into their last two games a point off the play-off places and Collin admitted, “Even when Tom was still in charge, we had looked at the run of fixtures – to lose at Ashford on Good Friday was disappointing because we felt that it was a game that could have gone either way, but unfortunately went against us!”
“With Sittingbourne winning the next day and taking it to six points, we had to win out next two and Sittingbourne got just the one point, all of a sudden, it’s one point adrift!”
“It is still out of our hands – all we can do is to control the controllables really and win our games and hopefully get the win against Sevenoaks which will be tough and then see where we are, come 5pm!”
We then finished by asking Collin if he wanted the job full time. “To me, I want to be involved at the Football Club,” he admitted.
“In what role that will be down to the Chairman moving forward. I would like to stay – the Chairman has been unbelievable with me, not just this year with the injury and looking after me, he’s been brilliant since I came through the door and if he feels that I am the right man to do it then we will sit down and have a chat!”
“When I took it, it was to get through these last four games to see if we can get a reaction out of the players and try and work out what the best position for the Club will be!”