Lovetts

FROM THE WOKING NEWS & MAIL

Clive Youlton
12:00am, Mon 11th Jun 2007
PROTO-COL ALL IMPORTANT IN CARDS? FAMILY TREE

YOU can take the man out of Kingfield but you can?t take Kingfield out of the man.

Of course, in Colin Lippiatt?s case, that only partly applies.

Because although Woking FC is in his blood, however many times he leaves, he just keeps coming back.

?The amount of breaks you have are irrelevant in my view,? he says. ?It?s the duration that?s important and I?ve been at Woking a long time.?
A span of 27 years to be precise, for the Cards? loveable football technical director who is relishing the task of helping to bring the good times back to the club, albeit from an unfamiliar viewpoint ? the boardroom.

One thing he wants to make clear to his detractors is he is not back at Kingfield to interfere.
?I?ve heard all these stories of people saying I?m going to tread on people?s toes but that?s not going to happen,? he says.

?I had a meeting with chairman Chris Ingram on Friday, to discuss various matters, openly and honestly.

?Basically we talked about the club?s family tree, if you like, and areas of responsibility. It?s about clarifying roles because I think that?s important.
?I will be following the first team home and away of course.

?But I also want to take an interest in the academy and the community side of things, watch some of the games and maybe have monthly meetings, to have an overall appraisal of all football matters.

?It?s interesting for me because I?ve never been on this side of the fence before and I?m really enjoying it.?

A fixture at Kingfield since the early 1980s, in various spells as manager, assistant manager and coach, Lippiatt breezed back into the club in April and wasted no time in helping to bring in new boss Frank Gray.

So is he now the link between chairman Ingram and the manager? ?Correct?, he says. ?I?ll be working with Frank and Gerry (Murphy) on a regular basis.
?It was hectic at the start so I was in most days. But when you analyse our overall agenda to get things in place, we?re not far off now and I?ve been able to be a bit more selective on the days I go in.

?I get on well with Frank and Gerry as I knew I would. We?ve all put a lot of positive ideas forward. But ultimately it is Frank?s team, Frank?s squad and Frank?s budget, even though he has got a tremendous supporter in myself.?

With Goma Lambu (one year), Matt Pattison (two years), Michael Charles (one year) and Jay Gasson (two years) having signed on Tuesday night, the squad in place is up to 16, with AFC Wimbledon centre-back Paul Lorraine joining Yeading?s Marvin Morgan and Bradley Quamina in putting pen to paper for The Cards last week.

That leaves room for just one or two others, including a goalkeeper.

?It?s a young squad and with regard to the new players, as an honest comment, they are unproven and it is a gamble, there?s no doubt about that,? says Lippiatt.

?But a player released from a Football League club or a Blue Square Premier club might be too. And let?s not forget we have around nine players from last season so there are a reasonable amount of numerical numbers still left.?

So what of the squad being labelled as inexperienced? ?To be fair, John Still did the same thing at Dagenham and Gary Johnson at Yeovil, where some of the players had never been heard of,? he adds.

?It might not work straight away and I don?t expect it to. But it could in time.

?What I do know is the players we have brought in have got a hunger, a desire and a passion.

?They liked the full-time aspect, the level of football, the set-up and the fan base. I also think a lot of why they wanted to sign was how we sold the club to them. And that?s not being cocky or arrogant.

?There?s the ground development possibility too in the future and it all forms part of the selling process.?

Lippiatt is ?juggling his time? around the job after the initial full-on involvement and he is excited about the future.

?By the end of this week we?ll have the squad, the training facilities (Merrist Wood) and the friendlies in place,? he says.

?In all aspects we?re now very close to what we want.?

* WOKING will host AFC Wimbledon in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday July 24.

* FORMER Cards' defender Gary MacDonald is set to sign for Ebbsfleet United.

First printed in: Woking News and Mail
BY CLIVE YOULTON

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