Chairman supports Urchins chief McFarlane

Hornchurch chairman Colin McBride has given his backing to manager Jimmy McFarlane and insisted he hasn’t lost faith in the Bridge Avenue boss.

Urchins have equalled their worst start to a league season with a run of eight games without an opening victory, as they did in 1965/66 and 1983/84.

However, despite Hornchurch having just one point from a possible 24 in the Ryman Premier Division, McBride is sure McFarlane will turn the situation around.

“We are in a position we are not happy with but I know we have a manager that will work tirelessly to turn it around,” he said.

“Jim’s been disappointed with the start, but his history shows he is a great manager. He has taken us to two play-off finals, an Essex Senior Cup win, the Conference South and I think there were darker reasons behind our relegation from the Conference South.

“Me and the two directors haven’t lost any faith in Jimmy McFarlane.”

McBride has admitted changes will be made at the club, but they will be to the playing staff and certainly not the managerial position.

The chairman has been working hard, alongside McFarlane and Urchins assistant manager Grant Gordon, to bring new players into the club this week, but with the budget seriously cut in the summer, due to an increase on their lease at Bridge Avenue, it hasn’t been easy.

“We have got to make changes, but certainly not to the manager’s position,” added McBride. “We need more personnel but you can’t get that overnight.

“I don’t want to embarrass Jim, but last Sunday we had a charity bike ride and I went down to the stadium to help out and he was there, I hadn’t even asked him.

“On Wednesday he was down the ground painting the goalposts. He does so much for this club and he is not our manager because he is a good painter, he is our manager because he is the best man for the job.

“Jim has been on the phone all week, as have I and Grant, but it is not easy. It is not a shop, you can’t walk in and ask for a 30-goal a season man.

“The start of the season has been hard financially. I would estimate it has cost us about £25,000 in that we had no pre-season games and even now when we play the homes games we will have a lot on Tuesday nights, not Saturdays.”

Nevertheless, McBride is positive a first win will come soon and admits no time would be better than against financial heavyweights Margate – who Urchins host this weekend at Bridge Avenue, with the match kicking off at the earlier time of 2pm.

The chairman also spoke about viewing the campaign as a 36-game season, adding: “I’m looking at Margate on Saturday and thinking what a time to get our first win.

“We have VCD Atlhetic after, then the FA Cup game on Saturday (September 13) and Witham the Tuesday after.

“I am looking at the Witham game and thinking it is a 36-game season after that. That is two weeks to try and bring a few new faces in and by then we will have Martin Tuohy and Joey May back and it will look a lot better.”