By Josh Cole
Margate FC are delighted to announce that Ben Greenhalgh will be staying as player/manager for the 2025/26 campaign!
In his first season as player/manager, we finished fourth on 87 points, a tally that was more than our last two seasons combined.
At the start of 2024/25, he set out a target to have an average of two points per game and we beat that.
On the pitch as well, Greenhalgh made his 200th appearance for Margate away at Sevenoaks and in those 200 games he scored 76 goals and got 99 assists.
He and the coaching staff have brought unity and excitement back to Hartsdown Park, as well as our first playoff game in ten years.
Ben Greenhalgh added: “It’s been a pleasure to manage this Football Club over the last season, there’s been memories and experiences that will stick with us forever and that is all down to the great support we have received from everyone associated with the club.”
“I look back at when I first met up with Ricky & Dan this time last year and we discussed the possibility of taking things forward. For Margate Football Club It was a challenge that I was really dedicated too, and I acted quickly to get a great back-room staff together. Myself, Flan, Elliot, Graham & Owen were all on the same wavelength with our ambitions and we set targets to get the buzz back at Hartsdown Park and getting the club back to winning ways. I believe with the help of the players, the board and especially all our fans, that excitement is back.”
“We are aware that maybe we drew a few too many home games however we did stick with the majority of the squad all season and added well throughout, and I do believe we are in a much better place with our team right now. Squad consistency has been massively important and it’s something we will be looking to continue with for the coming season. 18 clean sheets, 115 goals scored, and goals being spread about by a lot of our attacking players.”
“It’s been an emotional couple of weeks, the highs of finishing the season so strong and being unbeaten in the league in April to leaving a whole season of hard work down to 90 minutes. It was brilliant to experience our fans taking over on Tuesday night and singing throughout and even at the end of the game. Obviously, the result was extremely gutting however from speaking to supporters, media, other managers & even watching the game back we were so professional in that first 45 minutes and organised against a good footballing team that on another night we could’ve been easily leading at half time and the game could have gone a completely different way. It hurt for us all but the main message I put across to the group was that we have unfinished business, we owe the club one better and we will all come out of this much stronger than before.”
“The best teams are consistent and have a great level of continuity within the squad, our ambition is to bring many familiar faces back for another roll of the dice!”
“I look forward to thanking all of our fans on Saturday at the Club’s presentation and ensure that the hard work has already begun!”
UP THE ‘GATE
