New Holbeach United manager Seb Hayes wants to bring the good times back to Carter’s Park after landing what he describes as “the biggest job” he’s likely to have in Step Five management.
Hayes was officially unveiled as Tigers boss after Saturday’s 2-1 win over Rothwell Corinthians, having left his role as joint boss at UCL Division One side Oakham United to take the position vacated by Tom Roberts two weeks ago.
The former Huntingdon Town and Peterborough Norther Star chief is well-respected in local circles and was handed the job after an interview on Wednesday evening.
He describes Holbeach as one of the giants of Step Five football and wants to bring back the fear factor to Carter’s Park, while also targeting silverware in his maiden season with the club.
Hayes’ immediate aim to restore the trademark battling qualities he feels that the Tigers used to possess and hopes that the players he describes as a “great group” will respond in kind.
“I’ve come here because this is a proper football club,” said Hayes. “For me, there’s not many bigger than Holbeach United at Step Five locally.
“You can only really compare the club to Wisbech Town in terms of fans and what they’ve done historically.
“Over the past ten years Holbeach have often been challenging for trophies across the competitions.
“I look at the current team and see a great group of players, too. When you get the opportunity to come here as manager, you take it.
“I actually spoke to Tom Roberts in the summer about potentially coming here to help him out. But I wanted to manage – so when the job came up last week and I heard the club were interested in talking to me, things moved pretty quickly.
“I sounded out a lot of people that I know about the club before taking the job and everything that I heard was very positive. I 100 per cent realised then that I had to go for it.
“OK, Peterborough Sports are running away with the league – but second place is achievable for everyone from probably second place down to 12th.
“I’m thinking ‘push, push, push’ and try to win both cups we’re still involved in and let’s not drop our standards just because there has been changes in the management position.
“My aim is to get Holbeach back to being the kind of team I remember; intimidating, nasty – yet playing good football – and being a team nobody wants to play against.
“When I came here with Huntingdon and Peterborough Northern Star it’s was a horrible place to come. I remember losing here in the FA Vase and the crowd were absolutely buzzing.
“I want the club to get back to being like that – it felt like a proper football match. I was getting abuse from the fans and I hated it – but also loved it at the same time!”
Having enjoyed short stints in his last three jobs with Oakham, PNS and Huntington, Deeping-based Hayes wants to lay down roots with Holbeach.
He has a long-term project in mind and is already looking to bring in some fresh faces to re-energise the dressing room and add strength in depth to a squad ravaged by injuries.
He added: “The problem at the moment is that it’s a bit too quiet here. Maybe some of the people here are feeling a bit sorry for themselves, I don’t know.
“Maybe that’s got something to do with the club being in transition – I think I’m the fifth manager here in four years or so.
“I do think the squad needs strengthening – and there are so many injuries here at the moment.
“We need two or three players to come in, which should lift the rest of the squad as well.
“There’s no two ways about it, there current squad is very good – it just needs reinforcements in certain areas.
“Hopefully that’ll give a few of the lads a kick up the backside and make them want to fight for their shirt and push themselves a bit harder.
“It has to be a long-term project for me. My last few jobs have been quite short-term ones – although Huntingdon was a little out of my control with stuff going on behind the scenes.
“At PNS it was my fault, I had things going on in my private life.
“I need to now go into a club and stay there long-term. I don’t think I would have got the job if I hadn’t laid out any plans for the future.
“That’s what the club are looking for. There are going to be good days and bad days, but I’ve got to stick at it.
“To be fair, this is probably going to be the biggest club I’ll manage at this level. It’s a massive club, no disrespect to Northern Star and Huntingdon, but they haven’t got the same kind of following or history as Holbeach.
“This club, at Step Five, is a giant. My job – with a great bunch of players – is to get Holbeach back to where it should be and get the team doing what they are good at.”
Hayes’ first game as boss is at ON Chenecks on Saturday (3pm).
