Windsor & Eton FC appoint Matt Angell as first team manager

Matt Angell and Rob Webb

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Having only established the club a few weeks ago, the Windsor & Eton FC board are busily pulling together its various parts and pieces both on and off the field as they prepare for their first season at Stag Meadow.

In the past few weeks, owner and chairman Mark Cooper has installed a new youth chairman, Paul Mitchell, while on Friday the club confirmed the appointment of its first team manager, Matt Angell.

Matt and assistant Rob Webb have joined the club after a successful four-year spell at Eversley & California.

In a statement on Friday, the club said: “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Matt Angell as our new first team manager. Matt joins the club after four seasons at the helm of Eversley & California in the Combined Counties Division 1, where despite two COVID hit seasons, he guided the club to the playoffs and to the semi-finals of the Hampshire Cup. Prior to his time at Eversley, Matt was manager of Basingstoke Town's u23s side and part of the management team at Bagshot Lea, Marlow and Highmoor Ibis.

“Matt will be joined at Stag Meadow by his trusted long-term assistant Rob Webb.”

Cooper added: “We received 22 applications for the first team management position, of which we shortlisted four for interview.

“All four candidates were impressive, but Matt and Rob's passion was clear for us all to see. They understand what we're trying to build at Windsor and are both excited to join us on our journey. They have huge non-league experience; they know our level of football inside out and they enjoy building professional but enjoyable environments for players to thrive.”

Two things attracted Matt and Rob to the Windsor & Eton project.

“The first thing is the project,” said Angell. “We'd been trying to do something very similar at Eversley by bringing the youth and the seniors together. That project of bringing the whole community together was absolutely amazing, we just thought, 'wow, what an opportunity to do something like this'.

“Secondly, it was just the pure size of the club. When you look back to the history, the days when you were playing friendlies against Arsenal and the cup runs you've had. Some of the great players you've had playing for you. We just thought, this is our opportunity to go there and put our stamp on it and create history for the players. Me and Rob were talking about it earlier. If you can go on a run, and get back-to-back promotions, that puts players into history books.”

Matt and Rob will now look to pull together a competitive squad for the upcoming campaign and - while the club hasn't yet confirmed publicly which league or level they'll be starting at - a series of pre-season matches have been announced. Venues are still to be confirmed, however, the club is pencilled in to play Virginia Water on July 11, Flackwell Heath on July 18, Penn & Tylers Green on July 25, Royal Holloway on August 1 and Holyport FC's reserves on August 5.

The new club has secured a new long-term lease with the Crown Estate to use Stag Meadow and hopes in time to build a new artificial pitch, creating what they hope will be a hive of activity throughout the year.

The club is also working hard to boost its presence in the community and online. It's been hiring for volunteer roles, including a club photographer, video editor and website content manager.

Over the weekend, Windsor & Eton also hosted a successful youth tournament, featuring 200 teams and around 2,000 players.

The club came within a whisker of lifting one of the trophies, with Windsor & Eton's u13s team beaten in the final of their competition.

The youth section is also looking to hire new coaches that are passionate about inspiring the next generation of Windsor & Eton footballers.