Sampson Explains Why

22 June 2007

TOMMY Sampson says he wants to take his new club Redhill into the Ryman League, after his shock departure from Horsham YMCA this week. The ex-YM assistant boss admits he had been yearning to return to management and when the Sussex County League Division 1 side came calling, he could not resist their overtures for long. In two seasons under the management team of boss John Suter and Sampson, the Gorings Mead side won the County League and went on to claim a highly respectable ninth place finish in Ryman Division 1 South in their first year at that level. Now, Sampson says he wants to emulate those feats as a manager in his own right with Redhill, alongside the experience of Stuart McIntyre - a UEFA qualified coach. "I never applied for the job," Sampson said. "The people there spoke to me three or four times and each time they spoke to me, the more and more interested I got. "I have got a very good guy, I am going to work with Stuart Mclntyre. We are going to try to do what happened at YM, and there's a bit more financial clout at Redhill." FA Vase winner Sampson, who has 19 years of management experience with teams such as Dartford, Tonbridge and Boreham Wood, admits he went through a lot of soul searching before taking up the offer, but is convinced he has made the right move, despite his success at YM. "I spoke to friends in the game, and they told me to take it, it will be my own club," Sampson remarked. "I found it a struggle to be a number two, but I would not have left for just any job. "I have got a huge amount of respect for John, but I struggled to be a number two and not being in charge is a frustrating thing. "I want to push and push and I think I have come to a wall, I leave YM on the best of terms, I spoke to everyone at length and I am indebted to John and the club and I wish them ever so well." He also revealed that even if Suter did not sign on for an extra year at YM, he would have rejected any offer of a job. Sampson added: "There was never any thought of me taking over from John - I told him that if he leaves, I leave, if I was to do that job it would be on a different basis. John does a fantastic job, he finds players in all sorts of places. If I was ever to have it offered to me, I would only have it on my terms. "They are going to have a tough second season whether I was there or not, people will not see YM as a soft touch like they did last year. "I want to get Redhill into the Ryman - it would be lovely to play YM the first game of the season after next." Suter admits he now has an unexpected close season headache as he tries to construct another successful management team. "I'm not surprised, I knew he always wanted to do it, I just didn't expect it to be at this time. It will leave a big hole at the club," he said. "I have to reorganise the team now, there are two or thr.ee people who have made it known they would not mind coming into that position, it's for me to get my head around it now."_ The boss also paid tribute to Sampson's extensive knowledge of the non league game. Suter commented: "His knowledge of players in our league is terrifying, we could recognise who would be threats from each team before the game had even started. "His experience has been invaluable and we will miss him. You can only call our partnership successful, I will be sorry to see him go and I'm sure he will be successful at Redhill. He will have a healthy budget there. I believe he will be in the Ryman within a couple of years. Football is his life and he will be putting 16 hours a day work in. "Tommy is taking a step back to take two steps forward, it's an excellent opportunity for him. We will miss Tommy in football terms and for his enthusiasm but also for the work he did outside of that, especially fundraising."