Rooks legend fears for the club's future

9:41pm Thursday 15th May 2008

Comments (8)   Have your say »

Terry Parris fears for the future of Lewes.

The Rooks legend is worried about the direction the club are taking after replacing title winning boss Steven King with Albion commercial manager Kevin Keehan.

He acknowledges managing director Martin Elliott and finance director Kevin Powell had to do something to address a lack of finance as they prepare for their first season in Blue Square premier and he has no personal issues with Keehan.

But Parris, who has served the club as player, coach, manager and chairman, believes: l Keehan should have appointed an experienced backroom team l Is flawed in his belief you can build a successful team around Sussex youngsters l May struggle to juggle the combined roles of commercial manager, general manager and football manager l Fears the club could fall apart.

He said: "We knew there would be massive financial implications if we got promoted and there would need to be another source of income. The club and particularly Martin Elliott had to do something "I imagine various options were discussed and the solution they have come up with probably seemed the best at the time.

"There was a state of shock, myself included, with regard to Steve leaving, particularly the timing.

"When you are looking for a new manager you need someone who has managed at a decent level recently, who is familiar with the level of football you are playing at, who has coached and who knows the circuit.

"We took a risk and a gamble when we appointed Steve King but that is completely different to now because Steve was experienced on the circuit with regards to knowing players."

Keehan has asked Terry Graves, who was assistant manager at Peacehaven in the Nineties, to be his No. 2. Former Arsenal assistant Steve Burtenshaw, 72, will help with scouting while Peter Allen, who played for Leyton Orient, will take on some coaching duties.

He hopes to build a team around young Sussex-based players with the likes of Horsham's Tom Graves, Burgess Hill's Ollie Rowland and his own son Joe Keehan, who plays for Worthing, rumoured to be among them.

Parris said: "The key to anybody without experience coming on board would be to have an experienced team around team.

"Kevin brings a lot of experience in other areas but I don't believe you can be commercial manager, general manager and football manager. To do that you need experienced people around you.

"It was always my philosophy as chairman to try to bring Sussex players through where we can and we did that. As we got higher it was impossible to find the players we needed locally to play at the level we wanted and we went outside the county, although not far outside.

"It concerns me that we think we can build a team now on Sussex players.

"I admire Kevin for resigning his job and throwing himself into Lewes Football Club but there is a lot more to it than that. I hope he is successful and I will help him in any way I can.

"I always say in life you have to earn the right. You can't just step into a position or buy a position, you have to earn the right. We have worked extremely hard to get where we are. The last thing we want to do is to undo all the good work that has been done.

"We had big friendlies at the start of last season which generated income and we need to continue to do that. We also need to continue to generate income through the gate. If we are not successful will that have a big impact on our gates? I hope we don't underestimate the level we are playing at."

Is Terry Parris right to be concerned?