Former Brighton and Coventry defender makes 'sensational' start to management after title success

Whing spent almost four years at Albion after initially joining the club on loan from Coventry in 2006.

The right back was a popular figure among Brighton fans and was voted player of the season in 2008-09.

He left the club in 2010 for Leyton Orient before moving on to Oxford United in 2011 where he went on to make more than 100 outings for the Us.

His first foray into management arrived in 2020 at Banbury United and in his first full season in charge, Whing led Banbury to the Southern League Premier Division title after a 1-1 draw against Tamworth last Saturday.

Banbury are 19 points clear of Peterborough Sports with six games to play.

“It’s been a fantastic season,” said the 39-year-old. “I joined two years ago a few months into the pandemic, we only played 13 games before the season was curtailed, but we managed to get to the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in 50 odd years.

“This season has been my first full season with the club and we got the first round again and were live on ITV against Barrow, which was another huge achievement.

"Then to go on win the league with a number of games to play is an outstanding achievement. This is the furthest the club has ever got in its history - the staff and players have made history, it’s top drawer.”

Whing enjoyed his playing career and is still in touch with former Albion players Adam El-Abd, Tommy Elphick, Kerry Mayo and Guy Butters but he admits the emotions and pressures of management is a different level.

“Being a manager is completely different," He said. "That feeling of relief on Saturday was massive. I’ve got to think about staff, the players, the board, the fans and the volunteers.

"That rests on my shoulders, I take it personally. I’ve got all those people to make happy and get them all pulling in the same direction.

“When you achieve something there’s a massive high, but there is always something just around the corner to bring you back down to earth.

"You can win a game of football, but there might be someone who was disappointed they didn’t play and then when you lose you feel like the whole world is against you.

“You feel every emotion as a manager, 100 times more than you do as a player. It’s quite lonely at times, but I have good people around me.”

Whing quite rightly enjoyed the promotion celebrations on Saturday but he will now prepare his club to compete in the National League North or South next season.

“We worked so hard. We had 1,800 supporters on Saturday and we wanted to win it in front of our own fans. The overriding feeling was achievement and relief more than anything.

“Our fans have been absolutely fantastic, the last few months we’ve had hundreds of supporters coming to the away games, it’s been a party every weekend. There was a party on the pitch after the game on Saturday, in the changing rooms and in the club house, then into the town, I bet there were a few sore heads on Sunday morning!

“There are some massive clubs at the next level up, the budgets are really big and so are the stadiums.

"I’ve been to watch a few games when we haven’t had a Tuesday match and you can see the tempo is a lot higher to what we have been playing at.

“There is a lot of work to do, but we want to keep as much of the squad together as possible, not make up numbers in the division and give it a right good go.”