'The foundations are there': Peters praises Devonshire as Magpies turn the corner

Alan Devonshire receives the acclaim of the Magpies fans after Saturday’s win. Photo: Darren Woolley

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Ryan Peters believes the foundations are in place for him and Aaron O’Brien to lead the Magpies forward - thanks in the main to the brilliant leadership of Alan Devonshire, who pulled on his flat cap as Magpies manager for a final time on Saturday.

After 10 successful years in charge, Devonshire announced last week he was stepping down as manager following a string of poor results.

Peters and O’Brien will take over on an interim basis, but there’s a decent chance those positions could be made permanent if they continue to pick up positive results and Maidenhead’s rise up the National League South table continues.

Having resigned his post after last weekend’s narrow defeat at Dagenham & Redbridge, the Magpies have responded with two impressive wins over Salisbury (6-0) and Chippenham Town (3-0) to ensure Devonshire bowed out on a high having given the club some wonderful memories over the years.

Speaking after the final whistle, Peters said the day was ‘all about one man’, though he did add he feels he’s been given all the tools he needs to take the club forward.

It was a relatively low key send off for Devonshire, but supporters donned flat caps for the occasion, and many stopped to thank him as he made his way from the dressing room to Stripes Sports Bar for a final time as manager after the final whistle.

Alan Devonshire's Black and White Army ❤️ pic.twitter.com/qTfsiPlOUy

— Maidenhead United (@MUFCYorkRoad) November 29, 2025

“Although conversations have been going on for a couple of years about priming me for when that day might come (Devonshire leaving) I don’t think I ever saw that day coming, if that makes sense,” Peters said.

“We’ve been together for something like 16 years, both here and at Braintree. It’s an emotional day for all of us and I’ve just seen some of our former players here to see the great man off.

“Today is about him and everything else we can discuss later. We’ve been given the foundations by the boss and now it’s about developing that to ensure we keep going in the right direction.”

Fittingly, the Magpies produced a performance against Chippenham that was very much like the man himself - Controlled and dominant but unflashy.

Liam Dulson fired the home side in front just before half-time, while Josh Umerah doubled their advantage with a towering header from Owen Cochrane’s cross just after the hour mark.

Sam Barratt rolled home the third from the penalty spot in injury-time and celebrated by pulling on a flat cap and posing for the cameras. It was also fitting one of his longest-serving players should score the final goal of Devonshire’s reign.

Highlights from yesterday's 3-0 win over Chippenham are now available online

Watch here https://t.co/nk5g7E3JBd

— Maidenhead United (@MUFCYorkRoad) November 30, 2025

“We’ve been through a rocky period to say the least,” added Peters.

“That was a fitting send off for a remarkable man. We’ve now got to take these decent performances into the next few games which are tough.

“But they’ve given us a platform, confidence is a little bit higher than where it was before hand and we’ve got to park those seven losses and move on.

“I think the improvement started in the Dagenham game. Although we didn’t get the victory, we saw some elements and a spark there. Tuesday then came along and things fell for us nicely, similar in a way to the Bath away game. That lifted the spirits for when we came into training on Thursday and we were able to come into this game knowing that we just needed to perform. It was a worthy win.”

Playing five at the back, with Remy Clerima in defensive midfield, Maidenhead squeezed the life out of a limited Chippenham Town side.

They lacked a little creativity in the final third in the first half hour - and Peters admitted that could continue to be their ‘Achilles Heel’ as they look ahead to Saturday’s clash with third placed Hornchurch at York Road and the matches beyond that.

He added: “That could be the Achilles Heel going forward, not creating enough,” he said. “But it sounds funny when we’ve just scored nine goals in two games. We’re not miles away, but we had gone from being a resilient side to a team that was letting in far too many goals.

“The idea of bringing Remy (Clerima) into the middle of the park was to create a bit more solidity and then allow our creative players like Josh Popoola, Liam Dulson and Josh Umerah to get further up the pitch and get on the scoresheet, which they’ve done today.

“In those games when we were quite poor, we didn’t necessarily have all the personnel. And when you don’t have all the personnel you can see cracks develops. But we’ve got most of our players back now so when you’re taking off a Josh Umerah, you’re bringing on some equally worthy. Because of that we’re now starting to build.

“We have a massive game now against Hornchurch but we’re in a good place. We’ll take one game at a time.

“The chairman has backed the gaffer and backed us accordingly and the idea is to win as many games as we can. We’ve turned a corner, we’ve shown our intent, but now we’ve got to deliver against teams at the top of the league.”