Managerial duo have Common touch

LITTLE Common Football Club has appointed joint managers ahead of the 2006-07 Sussex Division Three season.

Mark Linch and Chris Shoesmith will take over from Ken Cherry, who resigned at the end of the recently completed campaign.

Linch said: "I'm very pleased. Little Common have got a fantastic youth set-up down there and they're looking to improve their facilities all the time."

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The 29-year-old has been at Sidley United for the past few seasons, the last two of which have been as joint manager of the reserves with Tim Bolton.

He also played at Bexhill Town (now United) when they were previously in Sussex Division Two under Dave Shearing and won the Sussex County Youth League double with Stamco under-18s.

Injuries have hampered the tough tackling midfielder's playing career in recent times, however, and he is now set to focus solely on management.

While Linch is a fresh face at The Recreation Ground, the complexion of Shoesmith is perhaps more familiar.

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The 48-year-old played for the club for many years from under-14 level upwards and has been their linesman and occasional physio for the past two seasons.

He commented: "I'm very pleased to have got it. It's an up-and-coming club and it's going to be quite an experience."

Shoesmith, whose son Matt plays in goal for The Commoners, played for Sidley for many years and was sponge man during their double winning season.

He also had spells at Hooe Sports and Catsfield, but his managerial experience is confined to youth football.

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Cherry, who is staying at the club as chairman, stated: "I'm very pleased with the appointments. We had six applicants and there were some decent applications in there, but these two lads came up trumps. We've had a couple of meetings with them and it all looks very promising."

The new duo will take charge of their first pre-season training session on Tuesday July 4 and sessions will continue every Tuesday and Thursday thereafter.

The club will be running two other senior teams - a second string in East Sussex Division Two and third side in East Sussex Division Three - plus under-18s in the Sussex County Youth League.

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