Former QPR player Stuart Wardley turns red for Rovers

Former Queens Park Rangers midfielder Stuart Wardley brings more than a little football pedigree with him to his new role as manager of Haverhill Rovers, with last week’s appointment described as ‘a match made in heaven’.

The ex-professional, who played 87 times for Queens Park Rangers between 1999 and 2002, was due to oversee his first match from the dugout on Saturday in the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division clash away to FC Clacton, but an unfit pitch saw the game postponed until March 5.

Rovers will next travel to fourth-placed Wroxham on Saturday (3pm) but, due to a pre-planned family holiday, Wardley will not be present, leaving his new team in the ‘capable hands’ of Dario Seminario, who will continue as assistant manager.

Sean Greygoose, however, has decided to step away from a coaching role despite having only recently joined up.

Wardley revealed that it had all begun as a bit of light-hearted banter between the former Haverhill Rovers player and the club’s development officer, following the departure of player-boss Marc Abbott to higher-league St Neots Town.

He said: “It happened so quickly, all in one day really – I got a jokey message from the club asking why I hadn’t already sent in my CV.

“I had only just seen the news on Twitter though so hadn’t had a chance. But I made it clear in my reply that I was very interested.

“And it went from there – I have a lot of experience in this league and have been looking for the right opportunity to get back into managing, and I know the club well having played there in the past. I have really enjoyable memories there.

“Rovers seemed really keen to meet me and seemed to want me, so it’s a match made in heaven really.

“I just can’t wait to get going now.”

Wardley – who played for Saffron Walden Town on four occasions before managing them between 2013 and 2018 – said he knows his first few games will be ‘challenging’ with the side matched up away to the teams in fourth, third and then second in the league in their next three outings.

He said: “It’s a massive challenge to start off like that, but you have to put yourself up against the best or what’s the point?

“We’ll just give it a go and try to nick a few points.

“But we do still want to finish as high as we can really and, from what I have been told, the team have been playing better than their league position (11th). So these first few games are a chance for the team to show me what they’ve got.”

He admitted there ‘had been talk’ about the club losing their top scorer for the third time this season, with 24-goals credited to those players including a 10-goal tally for Abbott, but he was not ‘desperate’ to bring in some new players.

“I want to give the boys upfront a chance to show me they can fill this gap,” Wardley said.

“It’s not really on my mind to bring anyone in immediately.

“There’s some really good and young talent there already so I just want to see how it goes first really, I don’t want to be making snap decisions before I’m even in the door.”