The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

On the subject of ex-R&DFC people, it looks like Graham Westley will be appointed manager at Preston shortly.

I wonder whether we'll ever find out the real reasons for his appointment and departure from Nene Park (as opposed to some of the spin put on the situation at the time). What would he have achieved with the funds Garry Hill was given? Would he have signed the likes of Lee Phillips or Leon Knight?

You guys probably can't remember Mark Wright because he was spectacularly average hence only 4 appearances. He was one of those that came in when Garry Hill first took over and was looking at a load of players for the next season. Still I'm not knocking the boy, I wish I had as many birds chasing after me as he does. He's obviously more skilled in other areas

Thanks for whoever put the team up from the Arsenal friendly as well. Remember them looking really good and Kieran Gibbs really standing out but couldn't remember that Schezsny and Frimpong played too. Watching their team that day I can't believe that some of their players like Paul Rodgers and Rene Steer are so far down the football pyramid now. I guess that shows just how skilled you have to be to make it in the premiership or even the championship. Guess that shows why we should be so proud of Belly, Jacko and Tomlin.

Formic wrote:On the subject of ex-R&DFC people, it looks like Graham Westley will be appointed manager at Preston shortly.

I wonder whether we'll ever find out the real reasons for his appointment and departure from Nene Park (as opposed to some of the spin put on the situation at the time). What would he have achieved with the funds Garry Hill was given? Would he have signed the likes of Lee Phillips or Leon Knight?

One rumour I heard from a Stevenage fan that's friends with Westley is that GW wanted to buy the club off KC and so KC had to get rid of him because it was causing tension. Who knows if that's true though, it's something I would love to know.

I heard that Allegedly GW was bullying some of the youth teamers, including Tom Shaw.

I don't know where the rumour came from, but it was from someone on one of the previous incarnations of this forum.

Sara Pascoe wrote:One rumour I heard from a Stevenage fan that's friends with Westley is that GW wanted to buy the club off KC and so KC had to get rid of him because it was causing tension. Who knows if that's true though, it's something I would love to know.

Unusual that i'd seek to defend KC but what I heard, from a good source, was that it was to do with his treatment of certain players. Some of the stories I heard at the time were outrageous.

He's well known and pretty much universally disliked for his unconventional training methods. I remember seeing David Perpetuini doing shuttle runs on his own at the side of the pitch before a game during his (brief) reign, and thought that was a bit odd.

That said he's clearly a successful manager. I'd put that down to players being petrified of him.

It will be interesting to see if Graham Westley can weave his magic at Preston, if he decides to accept the position. His AIMITA style of management might be a rude awakening to some North End players as it was nearly 20 years ago when John Beck rode into town on the back of considerable success at Cambridge United. He didn't last long however.

Noddy wrote:Having updated the Diamonds A to Z regularly in the past, I expect not many bother looking at the old Official Website any more.

Will the OW never get closed down?

Rushdenjim wrote:

Noddy wrote:Having updated the Diamonds A to Z regularly in the past, I expect not many bother looking at the old Official Website any more.

Will the OW never get closed down?

We don't honestly know. Its convenient to keep it as an archive - with updates continuing in areas such as the A-Z, as there is a lot we couldn't just copy elsewhere - e.g. the pictures which are copyrighted. We've taken a copy of the content in case it is shut down without notice, but if you take AFC Halifax as an example, they've retained their Perform Group site from the Halifax Town days.

A website in the style of the AFC Website is clearly the best way forwards for the new club - having had many challenging episodes with the Perform Group one as I try to upload Team Sheets or Match Summaries in real-time using a slow GPRS connection constrained to an IE8 browser I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Greg Pearson has gone on loan to Crewe Alexandra from Burton Albion.

Westley's appointment confirmed along with his two henchmen. Will be interesting to see how Stevenage get on without him. ;)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16560529.stm