New boss Brad Quinton says hard work will be key to Hemel Hempstead fortunes

Brad Quinton is pictured before his first game at St Albans earlier this week. Photo: Hemel Hempstead Town FC.

Quinton, the former Braintree Town manager who won promotion with the Iron in 2018, was appointed following the departure of Mark Jones following the Boxing Day loss to St Albans City, and took charge for the reverse fixture on New Year’s Day that the Tudors lost 2-1 despite taking an early lead.

A club statement read: “The club are delighted to announce the arrival of Brad Quinton in his new role as the club’s first team manager.

“Brad has experience of National League South football having previously managed Braintree Town where he got the club promoted to the National Division in his first season with the club.

“Brad has also managed at Welling United. Previously, Brad also managed Enfield Town where he managed to get the club to three play-offs and the club’s best ever FA Cup run.

“Coming in to support Brad will be Mahrez Bettache, Matt Lawrence, Errol Hassan, Barry Bolton and Rob Lawrence, all of whom Brad has worked with previously.”

Speaking after his appointment and before his first game against St Albans, Quinton said: “It’s a very ambitious club and the aims of where it wants to go match my own ambitions.

"When the job became available it was a no-brainer really and I jumped at the chance.”

Quinton added he has identified areas where changes may need to be made with regard to playing personnel.

He said: "I’ve seen a few games, knowing a lot of the players personally, and I can see where we need to strengthen and improve and I’m confident we can do that.

"Right from the get go the work ethic is going to be stepped up. The fitness levels have obviously been looked at straight away as well as how we play, where we press and how resilient we are. We’ll be very fast, very fit, will pass and exploit teams’ weaknesses and commit ourselves to everything and put our bodies on the line.

"The players will be very enthusiastic and the fans will appreciate that. They’ll expect and we will deliver.

"The squad needs fine tuning but technically the guys are very good and I’m confident in what they can do.”