Sport

NEW HAMLET BOSS ROSE UNDAUNTED BY CHALLENGE

15 May 2009

John Prendergast
johnp@southwarknews.org

New Dulwich Hamlet manager Gavin Rose has said the time is right for him to take up management and he is ready and primed for any challenge at Champion Hill.

The 32-year-old former Hamlet central midfielder took charge after previous incumbent Craig Edwards left the post two weeks ago. Rose played for Hamlet seven seasons ago, after his professional career took him to Wimbledon, Charlton, QPR and Southend.

Despite his youth in managerial terms he has already overseen a successful season at Beckenham Town, where his young side narrowly missed out on promotion from the Kent League.

He also had a short stint at Fisher Athletic, where he came in for half a season following a managerial departure.
While playing for Dulwich he also established the ASPIRE Academy, which specialises in coaching youngsters and counts Wolves’ George Elokobi as one of his protégés.

Despite his youth Rose was ready to take the Hamlet job when it came his way. He said: "I was offered the job, it was really just a brief conversation with the club and I was definitely interested. I think it is the right time for me to take the job; I have had brief taste of management but this is my first proper position."

Rose has already installed Junior Kadi as his assistant, having established a long standing working relationship with him in his previous roles at ASPIRE and elsewhere.

The new Champion Hill chief will now spend pre-season accumulating a squad virtually from scratch, but stated that some players from last years squad will be invited along to pre-season to be put through their paces.

He also went on to say his teams have a distinct style that he will also be looking to implement next season. He added: "We always try to play open attractive football but it has to have a purpose, we don't just want to be passing the ball for passing sake. Our football will have a purpose to it and we will get it down and play where we can."

He also sees the opportunity to come in straight at the start of pre-season as the perfect time to stamp his character on his side, and he will be using his already extensive contacts to put together a squad who can carry out his ideas.

Rose has seen the player budget for next season, and although he admits it is not the largest around he believes he can work within its constraints: "That doesn't scare me - I know a lot of boys who have played non-league and who have played for our academy, and we will be looking at some of them as part of our squad next year.

"I know people are doing all they can off the pitch to help with the budget and it will take a big effort next year, both on and off the pitch, to get things done, but our focus will be on the pitch and getting that side right."
As for expectations for next year, he said they can be set at a later date: "I think it's too early to say what we expect for next year, especially as a ball has not been kicked in anger. Of course we would like to win every game and we will be trying to do that, but realistically that is not going to happen."

---

Social Bookmarks:
del.icio.us Digg Newsvine Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Wikipedia: social bookmarking

---