Ashington FC's new joint head coach Andy Coyles talks about the task ahead

The duo were installed as the new management team at Woodhorn Lane last Friday replacing Ian Skinner, who stepped down from the role at the end of the season after a superb five year stint.

Skinner signed off after the Colliers had gone out of the Newcastle Flooring Northumberland Senior Cup at the semi-final stage, narrowly losing 2-1 against Newcastle United U21s, with the club unveiling the partnership of Coyles and Hill – who will operate as joint head coaches – the following day.

“When Ian Skinner told us he was stepping down, we said straight away we were very interested in the job,” said Coyles.

“Richie and myself have forged a really positive working relationship with the current crop of players and the feel-good factor in and around the changing room was something we certainly warmed to.

“When the announcement was made, we were blown away by the level of support for us from the players, who all reached out and said ‘we really want you to take the job on and we want to work for you’. That was certainly a contributing factor in us wanting to stay – coupled to the fact that we appreciate the club’s history and loyal support base, and if we can get the recruitment right, we can continue to move this team forward and be successful in the seasons which lie ahead.”

He continued: “Our work has already begun. When we were given the green light about taking over the role, we spent hours upon hours discussing the current squad of players and also potential targets who we feel could be an asset and who could strengthen us and bring that experience to the group.

“We’ve identified areas where we feel we need to strengthen, and having reflected and evaluated on the campaign just ended, we are confident we can be a force to be reckoned with next season.

“Win, lose or draw, within that changing room is a tight knit group and it’s important that we stick together moving forwards next season when the aim will be to improve - otherwise, if we don’t do that, we will have underachieved.”