Erith & Belvedere appoint Danny Murphy and Marlon Patterson as interim managers while the club digest the news of Del Oldfield’s departure and look to plan for the future

ERITH & BELVEDERE co-director Paul Springett says he respects Del Oldfield’s decision to resign as the clubs manager yesterday.

 

Oldfield, who has previously managed the reserve teams at Phoenix Sports and Stansfeld, took charge of the blue side of Park View Road on 1 March 2020 but cited personal reasons behind his departure.

However, the 2019-20 campaign was soon halted due to the coronavirus health pandemic and the 2020-21 campaign also failed to finish.

Oldfield was in charge of only 19 games in all competitions, winning six of them during his 15 month stay at Park View Road.

“We want to thank Derek for his professionalism, honesty and efforts in the past year, in a year which has been stop-start due to the global pandemic this has never been an issue with Derek and he has done an incredible job of putting together an exciting team,” said Springett.

“We fully respect Derek’s decision and we will continue to support him as a friend of the club and now as a supporter of the club.

“In the short time that Derek was the manager we had some great moments in The FA Cup and FA Vase with probably one of the most nail-biting penalty shootouts against Alfold and we’ve made lots of new friends along the way.

“The club continues to make lots of progress off the pitch and we look forward to the 2021-22 season with lots of exciting announcements still to come.

“We wish Derek and his family well and we look forward to seeing you back at Park View Road soon.”

The club have put Danny Murphy and Marlon Patterson, 37, in interim charge while they seek a permanent manager ahead of the new Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division campaign, which gets underway on Saturday 31 July 2021.

“We had recently announced Danny Murphy as assistant manager alongside fellow assistant manager Marlon Patterson,” Springett added.

“Both will step in as interim managers as we digest the news of Derek’s departure and look to plan for the future.

“All discussions on applicants and announcements on the manager's role are taking place internally and the club will make some further announcements in due course.”