Sittingbourne boss Ryan Maxwell signs two-year contract to remain at Woodstock Park while Paul Barnes gets Hastings United job

SITTINGBOURNE vice-chairman Andrew Marjeram has announced that manager Ryan Maxwell has signed a two-year contract to stay at Woodstock Park.

Maxwell arrived at the club in January - taking over from Nick Davis - and steered the club away from relegation trouble, winning nine, drawing seven and losing only three of his games.

The Brickies finished in eleventh-place in the Isthmian League South East Division table, picking up 51 points from their 38 league games and the former FC Romania manager has been rewarded with a contract after attracting interest  from higher-league clubs.

“I am absolutely delighted to get this over the line,” said Marjeram.

“It has certainly been a tough negotiation as Ryan had numerous offers from higher clubs but I’m ecstatic to have Ryan and his staff with us for at least the next two years.

“Ryan embodies what Sittingbourne is all about. He wears his heart on his sleeve, his attention to detail is phenomenal and he is extremely passionate.

“Taking over last year when we were in a precarious position, what Ryan achieved in a short space of time was quite remarkable and I can’t wait to see what the next two years bring.”

HASTINGS UNITED appointed former Dulwich Hamlet boss Paul Barnes as their new manager yesterday.

The Isthmian League Premier Division club appointed centre-half Craig Stone as their player-assistant manager.

“We received several applications for the post but feel that Paul has the outstanding qualities as a coach to be able to build a team worthy of wearing the Hastings badge and take the club forwards on all fronts,” said a club statement.

“Paul and Craig will implement a new structure where we will have a satellite training facility in south London so that training can be split between Hastings and Greenwich during the week on non-matchdays.

“This should ease travel times spent during the week for our more London based players as well as solving the issue of Hastings not having enough suitable pitches within the borough, which currently hinders our progress.”

WORMSLEY ROVERS manager Ryan Wade has appointed Dean Harrison as his new assistant manager yesterday.

The Broxbourne based Eastern Counties League Division One South club have appointed Harrison, who lives in the Hertfordshire town.

Harrison was part of the management team at relegated VCD Athletic towards the end of last season.

Meanwhile, there are a high number of football managers/assistant managers that are currently out of football at present.

The list includes Gary Alexander, Simon Austin, Grant Basey, Keith Bird, Jason Bourne, Kris Browning, Paul Byron, Micky Collins, Clive Cook, Nick Davis, Richard Dimmock, Ian Docker, John Embery/Jermaine Darlington, Joe Ford, Will Graham, Simon Halsey, Ian Jenkins, Chris Kinnear, Hugo Langton, Keith McMahon, Michael Power, Luke Rooney, Gavin Rose,  Lee Roots, Richard Styles/Dan Morrin, Ray Turner, Danny Wakeling and Tommy Warrilow/Alex O’Brien.