I’ve probably had eight or nine good players come to me who want to come next season, says Collins

ERITH & BELVEDERE boss Micky Collins has woken up this morning as a Kent League double winner.


The Deres can look forward to playing Ryman League Division One North or South football in August after clinching the Kent Hurlimann Football League title by two points and they secured the Macron Kent League Cup after beating Corinthian 4-1 at Park View Road yesterday.

“We’ve got new ventures now, well move forward,” said Collins.

“As a manager I’ve got to get my head round the fact that we’ve got to change personnel.  The club’s got to change direction again.  I’ve got a great management team, they’re fantastic and they support me all the way.

“We’ve got to get our heads on it and over the next couple of weeks I’ll make some calls and see where it takes us and see if we can push on again.”

When asked what he needs to compete in the Ryman League next season, Collins replied: “I don’t really know at the moment. I haven’t looked at that to be honest because of the cup final and concentrating one game at a time and thinking about players. 

“I’ve probably had eight or nine good players come to me who want to come next season and we’ll assess it and we’ll look over it the next couple of weeks.

“I’ll sit down with the boys after the presentation see who’s staying and going to have a go and who’s not and we’ll see where we are with it. I’ve got a core of a good squad.”

It has been a champagne campaign for football in Bexley borough – with Welling United winning the Conference South title; Thamesmead Town winning promotion as Ryman League Division One North play-off winners; Erith & Belvedere winning the Kent League double and Phoenix Sports winning the Kent Invicta League title.

Collins added: “Do you know what? I looked at it the other day. I’ve seen all of my former clubs that I’ve had a little spell with or I spent a long time with either win titles or get promoted this year.  There’s some massive achievements there.

“Phoenix Sports, what they’ve done is phenomenal and Keith (McMahon) and his boys at Thamesmead, they’ve been through adversity trying to get that ground built and they’ve gone and achieved the impossible getting them up to the Ryman Premier League, that’s fantastic.

“Gillingham, my old club, have gone on and won the title. 

“It’s been a great season to have our friends here at Welling to go up as well.  I’m absolutely over the moon for Jamie (Day) because they’ve done it on probably one of the smallest budgets in Conference South. That’s a testament to good professionalism and having good contacts and having the belief and a game plan and I think we proved that as well.”

Visit Erith & Belvedere’s website: www.erithandbelvederefc.co.uk