New Herne Bay player-boss Liam Friend - who worked under Neil Cugley, Jay Saunders and Steve Lovell - on making his own way in management

Liam Friend has no shortage of managers to draw inspiration from as he becomes Herne Bay’s boss - but he won’t be out to totally replicate any of them.

The 37-year-old, who counts Folkestone, Margate and Ashford among his former clubs, is hard at work ahead of Bay’s 2025/26 Isthmian South East season.

Among Friend’s ex-managers are Neil Cugley, Jay Saunders, Steve Lovell, Steve Watt and Tommy Warrilow.

He said: “They’re lots of really big names in non-league football that I’ve been fortunate enough to see close-hand how they work.

"If I can have a small percentage of their success, it wouldn’t be a bad managerial career!

“But obviously, they were a lot more experienced than myself when they were my managers.

“Cugs was my manager for 10 years and, when he first became my manager, he had been manager at Folkestone for 12 years or something like that at that point. Crazy numbers, really!

“You do try and learn off these people because they’re huge names in non-league football.

“But, at the same time, you have got to be yourself. There’s no point being a No.2 of anybody else.

“Hopefully, people will talk about me in 10 years’ time how we’re talking about those people.

"But it’s up to me to work hard and then the proof will be in the pudding.”

Herne Bay largely under-achieved and finished 16th in their 2024/25 campaign, although Friend doesn’t expect to make wholesale changes.

“Obviously, we have got to speak to the current players, the ones that do want to stay and the ones that don’t want to stay, but I can’t imagine there being 20 signings,” said Friend, talking shortly after his appointment had been confirmed earlier this month.

“At the same time, we have just finished 16th and that’s not where we wanted to be.

“We need to