Matt Pole is joined by Sussex sport guru Steve Bone and special guests promotion-winning Burgess Hill Town joint managers Gary Mansell and Jay Lovett.
Gary, who’s making his second appearance on this podcast, played in the Brighton & Hove League. His coaching career has progressed through the age ranges at Burgess Hill and he had particular success running the club’s under-18s. He eventually earned the job of first team manager - which he has done for nearly two years, mostly recently in a joint capacity with Jay.
As for Jay, he has chalked up 30 years in football, having played for a variety of clubs including Lewes, Crawley Town, Brentford, Hereford, Eastbourne Boro, Whitehawk and Met Police.
His coaching and management career began at South Park before he moved on to his first spell as Hillians boss and he has also spent time on the coaching staff at Eastbourne Borough. Jay now works for the Russell Martin Foundation and is based at Cardinal Newman sixth form. In that role, he has celebrated his side winning the English Schools Super Cup.
Gary and Jay have recently led Burgess Hill back to the Isthmian Premier Division via the south east division play-offs, in which they won 2-0 at home to Margate in their semi-final before going to Sittingbourne - who were unbeaten at home in the league all season - and winning on penalties after a hard-fought 1-1 draw.
Now Jay and Gary are planning for life at step three, where the Hillians have not played since 2019, and it comes at an exciting time at Leylands Park, with lots happening off the pitch too.
