Faversham Town manager Tommy Warrilow ready to make pre-season count as Lilywhites target Southern Counties East promotion
05:00, 28 June 2024
Tommy Warrilow intends to make the most of his first pre-season as Faversham manager.
Warrilow succeeded Sammy Moore at Salters Lane in January but it’s never easy taking a job midway through a campaign.
He can well and truly do things his way now, though, as the Lilywhites return to training on Saturday with the aim of winning Southern Counties East.
They were beaten on penalties by Corinthian in the play-off semi-finals last season after finishing runners-up to Deal.
“We’re ready to go,” said Warrilow. “Having pre-season, it’s a different kettle of fish this year.
“One thing you don’t do when you come into a job halfway through the season is walk in and boot the door open and say this is this, this is that. You go in and look at everything.
“You’ve got two ears and one mouth so you do a lot of listening and taking it all in.
“This year, we’ll be going back, addressing stuff and saying this is how we want to do things, this is how we work.
“We’re either right or wrong but if you’re going to fail, you want to fall on your sword doing things the way you believe they should be done.
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s difficult - just treat people the way you want to be treated yourself.
“We just want to come in and work hard and play hard and you’ve got to enjoy it.
“There are going to be a few lows, of course there are, but you’ve got to deal with them and not go overboard.
“You enjoy your wins but you never go over the top because you never know what’s round the corner in football.”
Warrilow described the signing of defender Callum Davies as the final piece of the jigsaw.
He doesn’t anticipate further additions but knows players might come up who prove to be of interest.
“Everyone knows when pre-season starts that something might fall out of a club that will benefit you,” said Warrilow.
“I’ve spoken to the chairman and if anything comes up we’ll address it but I’m happy with the squad.
“Callum was the final piece of the jigsaw and we’ve got some 23s who came in and did well last year who I’m interested to look at in pre-season.
“I’m looking forward to getting started and we’ll be going full throttle to try and get out of this league.”
Faversham will be many people’s favourites to win the division but Warrilow is expecting a battle.
“It’s going to be a tough league,” he said.
“The teams people expect you to roll over are sometimes the ones that cause the most problems.
“Every single game is difficult and you can’t take anything for granted.
“There’s no point beating the teams at the top and then going to a team at the bottom and losing.
“This is where your attitude has got to be right.
“There’s no arrogance around the club or the players.
“We’ve got to be confident but we can’t go into it thinking we’re just going to turn up and win games.
“There’s players who’ve dropped levels to play in this league and teams down the bottom work their socks off.
“I’ve got a better understanding of the league now, too. Last season was the first time I’d dipped my toe.
“We’re more aware of some of the players in other teams than we were when we first came in.”