Hollands & Blair name Darren Blackburn as their new manager after Clint Gooding stands down due to personal reasons

Hollands & Blair have moved quickly to appoint a new manager after Clint Gooding stepped down.

Darren Blackburn is back in charge after Gooding left for personal reasons, just over a month after succeeding Luke Jessup at Star Meadow.

Blackburn spent more than a decade at Blair in a variety of player and management roles before leaving five years ago.

He returns with the club second-bottom in the Southern Counties East Premier Division.

There are limited funds available but he’ll be working hard to improve the squad and get Blair out of trouble.

“It will be a challenge but it’s a club I think a hell of a lot of and I wanted to go back and help them out,” said Blackburn, who added he was ‘gutted’ to see pal Gooding step down.

“I’ve just got to do what I can to try and make it work.

“I’m not deluded, I’m not going there with rose-coloured spectacles, I know there’s a job to be done.

“They’re in a situation where they made some decisions, with good intentions, in the last couple of years, that maybe didn’t quite fit the Blair DNA.

“Maybe money became more of a factor for players but that money isn’t there now.

“I don’t think it matters if you have or haven’t got money, there’s always scope to change a squad.

“It just depends on whether you’ve got the time and the contacts to find the right players and whether or not those players become available. You need a bit of luck as well.

“I’ve worked with enough players over the last four or five years that I like to think I can drag in three or four over the next few weeks to bolster the squad and bring a bit of experience.

“It’s a young squad, there’s loads of young talent but you can’t skip phases of your development, it just doesn’t happen.

“It’s all right having youngsters