TOMMY WRIGHT’S black and white army. That sounds pretty good. Unlike some fans, I really didn’t subscribe to the idea that the next manager had to be Darlo through and through but it’s a nice by-product of the recruitment process that we have gone and appointed a guy who has sweated black and white for the cause when representing our club. Throw in Alan White and the one thing that won’t be in any doubt is the passion for our club that will be radiating from the dugout.

I’ll be honest, Wright wasn’t my choice for manager. I suspect he probably wasn’t high up on the list of many and yet now that he’s here, I’m feeling a whole lot more positive about our outlook in the coming months. I’ve never heard him speak before so watching his pre-match interview was a fascinating experience. He speaks well, he speaks passionately and he speaks with confidence in his ability that belies his age. He ticked boxes for me so it’s time to get behind the new gaffer and hope that he can get us pointing in the right direction one again.

With the new manager in place, it was wonderful to see our joint caretaker managers Phil Turnbull and Gary Brown secure a win in their final game in charge. The pair of them have stepped in to the breach and conducted themselves admirably in what can only be assumed to be a pretty difficult situation. Having to go from teammate to gaffer can’t be easy but to do so with a group of players where collective confidence appeared to be scraping along the ground made the task in hand much harder. Turnbull and Brown have given the players a degree of freedom that they probably haven’t had for a while. Whilst we may not have been totally effective going forward, it’s been nice not having to watch ninety minutes of artillery salvos being launched from the defence. Everyone has been involved in knocking the ball around a bit more thoughtfully and I can imagine the players have enjoyed that approach.

The new management team will have their work cut out to continue the rehabilitation process started by Turnbull and Brown as we look to move away from an agricultural game something a bit more cultured where the ball doesn’t rack up the air miles. Work will be needed to tighten up at the back – another disappointing goal was conceded on Saturday – as well as developing some more constructive attacking patterns that will hopefully yield more goals. It is doable. I was very impressed with how well organised Bradford Park Avenue were, going both ways. They don’t have the quality players at their disposal like we do but what they lacked in individual skill, they made up for by being well drilled. If we can achieve a similar level of organisation with the extra quality at our disposal, there is no reason why we can’t turn in better performances on a more regular basis than we have seen so far this season.

It’s somewhat apt that Wright and White’s first game in charge is at Blyth Spartans this Saturday. The self-styled most famous non-league football side in the world have been scoring a few cheap shots at our expense this last week. Let’s go up there in good numbers, get behind the management and the players and lay down a marker for how we’re going to perform for the rest of this season.