Mike Jones was the absolute stand out candidate for the job, says Metrogas secretary Tim Morgan

METROGAS have appointed former Welling Town assistant manager Mike Jones as their new manager following Mark Warner’s departure.

The club finished bottom of the Andreas Carter Kent County League Premier Division, having picked up 17 points from their 30 league outings.

Warner joined the club at the beginning of the 2016-17 season as reserve team manager and won promotion from the Kent County Division Three West in his first season and finished runners-up in the Kent Junior Cup.

Warner then took on the role of first team manager the following season and has put a huge amount of commitment and effort into developing the first team.

Secretary Tim Morgan told www.pitchero.com/clubs/metrogasfc: “Mark also worked tirelessly behind the scenes and was instrumental in helping develop the youth section alongside myself at the beginning of the 2017/18 season with many of our youth players being chances in the first team over the last two seasons.

“Both personally and on behalf of the club I would like to thank Mark for all his hard work over the last three seasons. His commitment and attention to detail is second to none and I have very much enjoyed working with Mark during this time and wish him every success with whatever he does next. He has a huge amount to offer any club”.

Mr Morgan is delighted to be in a position to bring Jones to the amateur New-Eltham based club.

“I’m delighted to have Mike on board. He was the absolute stand out candidate for the job.

“What he achieved with Welling Town in helping take them from Division Three West of the Kent County League to the top of the Southern Counties East Football League First Division shows the quality of him as a manager and a coach.

“Once I’d spoken to Mike I knew he would be able to come in and do a great job for Metrogas.

“As a club we want to compete at as higher level as we can and once I shared my vision for what we are trying to achieve as a club and where I want us to be in the next three years he was very excited with the role.

“He is keen to engage with our youth section which is very important to the club that we develop players from our youth section and ensure they are given a chance in senior football.

“I’d like to wish Mike all the success in his new role at Metrogas and will now go about looking to build a competitive side.

“As a club we are also pleased to confirm that Gary Hopper will remain our under 23/reserve team manager for next season.

“Gary has done a great job in building a youthful side who have had an excellent run since Christmas and that is down to the hard work of Gary and the coaching staff.

“Also remaining with Gary in an assistant manager role is Stuart Mcivor who has been in the role since just before Christmas. Stuart run our U18 Kent Youth League side during 2018/19 before assisting Gary.

“I’m delighted Gary is staying on. He has had a fantastic first season and the results haven’t reflected his achievements. He has taken a very young side including players from both this season and last season’s youth section and blooded them in senior football. The sides recent form has been excellent and we hope this will continue into next season.

“I’m also delighted Stu is staying to help Gary with more of our current U18’s committing to senior football at the club for next season. Stu has been fantastic since he came on board in December and needs to take a lot of credit for recent good form with the work he has done with the side on the training pitch. With Stu on board this should further assist with the transition of more of our youth players”.

Visit Metrogas’ website: www.pitchero.com/clubs/metrogasfc