WANTED: Manager to take the Bulls by the horns

Sunday 09 December 2018

The Jersey Bulls are on the hunt for a manager to lead the team through the English Football Association Combined Counties First Division from June 2019.

Earlier this week, the Springfield-based club, which only launched in September, received full support from the English Football Association to join the English league and will be playing their first official league game in August 2019.

The club was the brainchild of Russell Le Feuvre, a former Muratti player and Les Quennevais PE teacher. A year ago, he put together "a group of friends with different skills sets," explained Ian Horswell, the Club's Commercial Director, and told them about his idea to create a club. Since then, Mr Horswell says the club has made some really big steps, the accreditation being one of them:

"This is the first time any team in Jersey has entered the UK football league pyramid. It's very exciting. We have other sports in the UK league, such as rugby and netball, but for what is arguably the most popular played sport in the world, this is quite big."

Mr Le Feuvre added: "By completing the JFA affiliation, which the English FA and Combined Counties League representatives were keen to see happen quickly, we can begin planning the Club's future."

Pictured: Springfield Stadium will be home to the Jersey Bulls FC.

The club has signed a three-year deal to use Springfield Stadium, with a capacity of nearly 1,000 seats, and space for a further 7,000 to watch from the surrounding landscaped park. 

They have received support from the States, designed kits and are now in the process of designing a mascot, which islanders will soon be invited to name as part of a competition.

The Bulls are now ready for the next step: recruiting a manager. They started the process on 6 December off the back of their accreditation. On its Facebook page, the Club said: "We're looking for a football manager to lead the Club into the English league for the 2019/2020 season and beyond. This exciting position will officially commence in June 2019."

The Club is looking for experienced managers with a minimum Level 1 FA Coaching Qualification, an UEFA B Qualification is also desirable. 

With just over eight months to go before the kick off of the first game, the team will be busy. Mr Horswell says once a manager is appointed, it will be time to sign some players, before moving on to find sponsors and partners to support the club's £250,000 annual running costs. 

The Bulls will be looking to be a "Jersey team" and to build on the strength of local players, who Mr Horswell says are strong enough to play at a league level. One thing Mr Horswell is adamant about is that the Bulls "don't want to hurt local clubs." "There are so many good things being done, we want local clubs to keep nurturing the local talent. We are not here to compete with them." 

"What we want to be is a community club," he continued. "We want everybody in the island to have a team they can support and follow. It's great for the economy, we will get to showcase Jersey as a destination! We have great facilities compared to some of the teams we are going to play. They are going to be in awe of the facilities we have."