The Colls are delighted to announce that, former player and Assistant Manager, Craig Rouse has returned to the club as Manager.
‘Rousey’ has featured for the club in his playing days as a striker, making a lasting impression with his goalscoring exploits during his two spells at the club.
However Craig really placed his name in the history books, being apart of Ponte’s greatest chapter to date. He was a key part of our rise from NCEL Division One to the Northern Premier League.
Mark Harling had this to say about Craig’s return “We’re all buzzing to get this sorted. When I came back on board myself, Trevor and Tom sat down and discussed a plan for the future. We feel that this is massive plus for the club and will no doubt see us move forward again as a club. Craig knows the club inside out and he’s the perfect man for the job!”
We caught up with the man himself (Craig Rouse) to discuss his homecoming “It feels brilliant to be back and I can’t wait to get started as soon as we are given the nod to do so. I’ve seen a few comments around social media saying “welcome home” etc and it almost does feel like that. It’s where I spent my best days as a player and equally it’s where I spent my best days as part of the management team that achieved what we did, so yes I’m delighted to be back!
I’m delighted to be working with Jimmy, Seedy and Gav. The first thought was that I wanted to surround myself with good honest football people and in Jimmy, Seedy and Gav we have that. Supporters of the club will have seen in recent years that these lads have turned in honest, hard working performances on the pitch and that’s what we’ll be attempting to replicate off the pitch. They’re all leaders within there own right and all have different characteristics which means naturally they’ll all add something different to the team which can only benefit us moving forward.
We have a clear idea of how we want to play and want we want the team to produce each week but the biggest thing we want to see is passion, desire and a will to work for each other and the club. We’ll be working hard to build a changing room that is honest and full of good people. It’s a club that we’re all familiar with and that we all care about so we want to build a connection between the staff, the players and the supporters of the club. The people who come through the gate and pay their hard earned money are the most important people at the club, so hopefully we can give them a team to be proud of and a team they can get behind.
I just want to say a big thank you for all the well wishes towards us as we start on our journey to put our own stamp on things. We’ve seen in the past that the club can be a special place when the supporters get behind the team, we’ll be working hard to give you a team to support and get behind. Come and get behind the team and let’s all play our part in continuing the progress of previous years.
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