Butler’s the new Arundel boss

Following Wheatcroft’s sacking, Mullets have promoted from within and appointed Butler, who was Wheatcroft’s assistant.

Butler has been at the club for five years, first as assistant to Vic Short, then Richard Towers and this season Wheatcroft.

Butler said: “Bob (Marchant, chairman) contacted me on Wednesday morning after Gary had left and asked me if I wanted the job.

“As well as being honoured and delighted to be offered, I didn’t want the players to go through more upheaval, and as I have a good rapport with the players and they respect me, I felt I wanted a crack at it.

“Gary had a tough time with injuries and a lack of depth, regularly only naming two subs but Bob’s worry was that we would get pulled into relegation trouble if results continued to go against us and he couldn’t let that happen.”

With Arundel 15th in County League Division 1 with games in hand, Butler, who will be assisted by current player Dave Hall, has set an aim of a top 10 finish, but will also be striving to sort out the club’s poor disciplinary record.

He said: “My main priority is to improve our fortunes and to address the discipline issue, as it’s unacceptable and has cost us so many points. In terms of on the field, we just need more consistency and ideally the top 10 would be great, as we’re under-achieving. They’re a great bunch of lads and, in some ways, the season starts here, certainly for me.

“There’s not a lot wrong at the club, and I’m confident that if everyone rallies around, we can turn things around. We should be doing better and, although I’ll be under pressure, I owe it to the players and the fans. I’m looking forward to it, but my first game will be against Three Bridges, which is a baptism of fire.”

On Hall as his assistant, Butler added: “Dave’s a senior member of the squad, and often coaches the training sessions, and I saw management material in him, so I asked him if he wanted to help out in a player/assistant role, and was pleased he agreed to do it.”