Martin Foyle backs former skipper Sam Collins as York City boss

Collins, who was Foyle’s skipper at Port Vale, accepted City sporting director Penney’s offer to become caretaker manager this week.

The latter is an old team-mate of Foyle’s, while the pair also worked together as Bristol Rovers’ management team for a brief spell in 2011.

Foyle, who guided City into the 2010 Conference play-off final before missing out on promotion at Wembley following a 3-1 defeat to Oxford, feels Collins is a natural leader and studious coach.

He reckons too that Penney’s presence in the boardroom, given his experiences as a manager including back-to-back promotions with Doncaster, will prove beneficial for the temporary chief, who has taken over the reins following Martin Gray’s dismissal.

Foyle is hoping to take in a City match during Collins’ tenure and has offered his support in any way possible, adding: “Sam is an absolute diamond of a person and was a great captain for me.

“He’s as honest as the day is long. When you’re a manager, you know who your leaders are and he was one of our main ones at Port Vale.

“Leaders don’t always have to be loud, Sometimes, it’s the quieter ones who are better organisers and he used to sit down with us in the changing room and take an interest in coaching.

“We’d also ask him if there was anything we could be doing better in training. We had a really, good relationship and I’ve told him this week that, if there’s anything I can do to help, he just needs to let me know.

“Your first steps into management are always the hardest and he really wants to do well. He’s been a good coach doing bits and bobs at Hartlepool and Bradford, where he’s had the experience of working with some good people.

“With Dave Penney there as well, you couldn’t ask for a better combination. I go back a long way with Dave, having played with him at Oxford and he likes to get his hands dirty by getting involved and having an input, so that can be helpful for Sam.”

Despite all the science applied to the job in the modern era, Foyle’s biggest bit of advice for Collins this week was not to ignore the value of one of the oldest and most essential aspects of the role.

“Man-management is still your biggest tool in my opinion, because you need to work with the players,” the ex-Hereford boss pointed out. “Some managers are always moaning and groaning, but if you get the players coming in with a smile and enjoying training, I think you can get 20 per cent more out of them. No disrespect to anybody at National League North level, but York City are a full-time club with great support and I’d love to see them get back up.

“You almost always get a manager’s job, because things aren’t right at the club and that must be the case for the club to be where they are with the budget they have got, so Sam needs to get in there and try and sort out what needs sorting.”

Like Foyle prior to joining the Minstermen, Collins’ background has been largely Football League-based and, while the former admitted that can pose different challenges, he has recommended that, if the temporary stint does become full-time, his ex-skipper must make sure he has more hits than misses in the transfer market.

Foyle’s 2010 promotion tilt came after a successful recruitment drive saw him bring the likes of James Meredith, Alex Lawless, Michael Rankine, Luke Graham and Chris Carruthers to North Yorkshire.

But he stepped down two months into the following season as Duane Courtney and Grey Young proved inadequate replacements for Ben Purkiss and Graham, who had both been lured away.

“Coming out of the League didn’t present many problems, but you have to be wary of some players’ non-League mentality,” Foyle warned. “Recruiting is all about contacts and bringing in lads who are prepared to run around and want to put the shirt on.

“I always went to games to watch players as a manager but, when you go to matches now, you see half the number of managers there. Other people seem to be doing that job, but I always felt you need to see players with your own eyes.

“I’m sure Sam will have watched games and I also think you need to focus on your catchment area, because I would imagine the days of paying relocating costs will have gone at the level York are, which means you’ve got to get your recruitment right because there will be a very small percentage of players available to the club now.”

Foyle, himself, is one of those non-managers scouting for talent on behalf of Motherwell boss Steve Robinson as the Scottish Premiership club’s head or recruitment – a position he has held since 2016.

“I help bring players in and sell them on,” he explained. “I get on really well with the manager and also do some coaching when I’m up there. I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m working with really, honest people, whereas I felt let down by people a bit in my previous few jobs.”

It is now approaching four years since Foyle’s last manager’s job came to end when he parted company with Southport and, on the prospect of jumping back on the merry-go-round, he declared: “I feel, at 55, I have so much to offer and I’m still learning every day.

“I’ve had chances to get back into management, but I won’t take anything if it means just hanging in there and trying to polish up rough diamonds with no money to spend. If I go back in, it has to be right and I probably miss coaching more than management to be honest.”

Elsewhere, Kallum Griffiths has jumped to the top of The Press Player of the Year standings.

The right back collected three points towards the standings as our man of the match following the 1-1 home draw against Curzon Ashton.

Jon Parkin (two points) and Adam Bartlett (one) were also recognised as The Press’ second and third-highest rated performers respectively.

The two Press Player of the Month bonus points, meanwhile, were awarded to Parkin after receiving the most man-of-the-match votes from our Twitter poll.

The Press Player of the Year standings: Griffiths 6, Parkin 5, Tait 4, Newton 3, Bartlett 2, Langstaff 2, Penn 2, Wright 2, Allan 1.

The Press Player of the Month standings for August: Parkin 7, Griffiths 6, Tait 6, Langstaff 4, Penn 4, Wright 4, Bartlett 2, Newton 3, York 3, Allan 1.

Goals: Langstaff 2, Parkin 1, Tait 1, York 1.

Assists: Bartlett 1, Burrow 1, Griffiths 1, Langstaff 1, Parkin 1

Bad Boys: Bencherif, Wright both two yellow cards; Heslop, Kempster, Newton, Tait all one yellow.

York City Supporters’ Trust, meanwhile, will hold a memorial dinner at the Royal Station Hotel to mark the club’s departure from Bootham Crescent on Saturday, June 8, 2019 (7.30pm start).

The venue has been carefully chosen with the hotel having staged a dinner to celebrate the purchase of the ground back in 1948.

It will be a black-tie event and an audio-visual show will be staged, featuring historic footage from Bootham Crescent, while there will be several guest speakers, a fundraising auction and music late into the night.

The three-course menu will give a nod to post-war cuisine although it will have a more palatable and contemporary twist. To signify the club’s 87-year history at Bootham Crescent, tickets for the dinner are £87 per person and are available from http://www.ycst.org.uk/shop/

Local businesses and community groups are also invited to book a table of 10 for the reduced price of £785, with numbers restricted to 200.