Manager Dave Carter is to move to a new position within the football structure of the club and his assistant Gav Spurway will now step up into the role of first team manager.

The duo have been together at The OnSite Group Stadium since their arrival at the club in February 2021 and have taken the Royals close to gaining promotion in both of the seasons completed since the Covid-19 restrictions were fully lifted.

In season 2022-23, the duo’s team broke numerous club records as they led the Wessex League Premier Division for six months and only missed out on promotion on the final evening of the campaign.

In 2023-24, they have guided Portchester to the promotion play-off semi finals, as well as the finals of the Velocity Wessex League Cup and Hampshire Senior Cup.

Over the last two league seasons, Carter’s side have had a mightily impressive win percentage rate of 72%.

New manager Gav Spurway is looking forward to taking on his new role and continuing the work himself and Carter have carried out over the last three years.

Spurway said: “It is a great honour to be named as AFC Portchester’s new manager and I’m looking forward to getting to work on planning for the new campaign over the close season.

“There’s a lot of work ahead if we want to go a step further in 2024-25 and build on the finishes we have had in the last two league seasons and achieve our goal of promotion.

“This is a fantastic club and there are so many positive things happening on and off the pitch – everything is in place for AFC Portchester to go higher up the non league pyramid system – but as we have seen over the last two seasons that doesn’t guarantee you success so we need to put in the hard work to make sure that happens.

“Having been at the club now for a few years will help as I know the structure and everyone involved – I will be looking to take forwards the work myself and Dave have done and build on that further.”

Carter will be taking a step back from the day to day running of the first team but will remain a key figure at AFC Portchester as he takes on a new head of football operations role.

He said: “I’ve decided it is the right time to take a step back from the day to day running of the team – this will give me the opportunity to devote more time to other parts of my life, like my family.

“I’ve enjoyed my time as manager and we have moved the playing side of the club forwards over the last three years – we have been one of the contenders for promotion in both of the last two seasons and I expect that to continue in the future.

“It’s been frustrating that we haven’t got over the line in terms of promotion but we have taken some massive strides forward on the pitch and the foundations are there for Gav to build on now and take things forward to the next level.

“I will still be part of the club and I am looking forward to taking up my new role and helping to keep this club moving forwards. There is a lot for all of us to look forward to here.”

Chairman Paul Kelly was full of praise for the work of Carter during his time as manager and is looking forward to seeing Spurway take that on further in the future.

He said: “I’d like to thank Dave for everything he has done as manager in his time to date at AFC Portchester and I am pleased he will still be part of our set up as he has a big part to play in helping to take this club forwards in the future.

“He has turned us into genuine promotion contenders in the Wessex Premier Division over the last couple of seasons and while we have just missed out on promotion in the last two years, that in no way detracts from the impact Dave has had on the pitch for us - we have taken some giant strides forward.

“I welcome Gav to his new role and having been part of our set up for the last three years or so, he is ideally positioned to move up from his assistant manager role into the managerial hot seat.

“Having an intimate knowledge of the club’s structure and the people here gives him the ideal head start in the role and there are solid foundations both he and Dave have already put in place to build on and take this club forwards.

“As always at the end of a season, behind the scenes at AFC Portchester the hard work starts for all of us now to ensure we are ready to hit he ground running when the 2024-25 season gets under way in August.”