Weekly News - 14/4/21

Paul Phillips praised the rest of the Matlock Town management team who he says are a strong pillar of support and people he could not do without.

That team consists of assistant Dave Wild, coach Dave Noble, football analyst Liam Hudson, goalkeeping coach Steve Shuttleworth, player assistant coach Kade Coppin and physiotherapist Jack Gleave.

“Everyone’s brilliant and it’s a pleasure to have them on board” said Phillips.

Wildy’s been doing a lot of the sessions while I’ve been sorting other things out and He’s been excellent. Dave Noble’s always been with me, he’s experienced and someone I can turn to.”

“Steve Shuttleworth was here when I came to the club, what a great bloke he is, a credit to the club as well as being a great goalkeeping coach. With Liam a lot of his work perhaps goes unnoticed but he does a lot of work off the pitch and gives me important information with regard to players.”

“Kade of course can still play and is very adaptable, he’s got tons of energy, a true leader who leads by example, he’s someone the lads can speak to and is a link between me and the players. As for Jack he’s probably over qualified as a physio, he did brilliant in getting Craig King and Nathan Whitehead back so quickly after serious injuries.”

“I can turn to them all, sometimes you need that different opinion, I don’t always get it right.”

The Gladiators have one pre season friendly inked in with others in the pipeline. Matlock will visit Sheffield FC on Tuesday 20 July (7.30 pm), having played the world’s oldest club in a pre season match last September which finished goalless. Phillips had to don the goalkeeping gloves for the second half following an injury to Jon Stewart.

Ian Richardson