In readiness of next season, we have already applied to join the Allied Counties Youth League and compete in the illustrious FA Youth Cup. All home games will be played at Redding Way.

Our new under-18s team will be co-managed by Andy Crombie, Matt Pender and Ross Walker.

Andy began his coaching career with Rushmoor Community Football Club, where he has coached the club’s youth teams for nine years.

Last season, his under-14s team won the North East Hampshire Premier Division and finished runners up in the under-14s’ league cup age group. They twice finished runners up in the under-14s Hampshire Futsal Cup.

Andy is a qualified coach and mentor from the Chartered Management Institute. He is currently in charge of Rushmoor Community’s under-15s, which are top of the under-15s North East Hampshire Premier Division.

Meanwhile, Matt has four years’ coaching experience. Most recently, he managed Rushmoor Community’s under-15s youth team, which competed in the North East Hampshire Youth League Premier Division on Saturdays and in the Surrey Primary League Premier Elite Division on Sundays.

He also managed Rushmoor Community Youth Girls Yellows under-12s’ team for the past three seasons, which is testament to his coaching credentials

As a further scoop, Andy and Matt will be ably assisted by Ross, who has managed and coached at under-7s to under-16s while at Frimley Green. He also managed The Frimmers’ under-23s team for five seasons before spending a season assisting former boss Simon Martin at Dial Square.

To ensure the players’ physical wellbeing on and off-the-field, the club is pleased to confirm the appointment of Rob Dunford as the under-18s fitness, strength and conditioning coach. Rob is a trained first aider and is a level 5 performance coach.

Chris Drane, Chairman of Knaphill Foothall Club, is pleased with the continual progression of the club. He said: “Since taking on the chair back in 2022, I was keen to reinstate the under-18s team.

“We already have a very successful under-14s team, so adding an under-18s team is another step forward to bolstering our pathway for progression.

“I have no doubt that our new under-18’ management team will achieve what they set out to achieve and see more players transition from the youth team into the first team,” he added.

Next Steps
The club will be holding trials for the under-18s team in the near future, so please stay tuned for further announcements with the dates and venues.

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