Thorpe rejected Grimsby Town before Stratford switch
ROSS Thorpe has revealed he rejected a coaching offer at Grimsby Town in order to work under Stratford Town manager Carl Adams.
Thorpe attracted interest from a number of non-league clubs in recent months, but the former Alvechurch boss has decided on a move to the DCS Stadium.
The 35-year-old fills the void left by Liam O’Neill, who left the club earlier this year for a full-time coaching role at Nuneaton Town.
“There was a lot of talk whether I could go to Grimsby,” said Thorpe, who holds a UEFA A coaching licence.
“I had a lot of people ask me what I was going to do, but Carl sat me down, told me what he expected and I thought it sounded really good. The facilities at the club are as good as most things locally.
“Carl is brilliant. Plenty of managers out there will sell you a dream just to get you in the building, but he is different.
“He has to be the most down to earth manager I’ve ever met in my life. The reason he is down to earth, is he’s so realistic and he’s also been in football for a long time.
“You look at the success at Stratford since he’s been there and it’s phenomenal. Stratford are now an established Southern League Premier side and that is testament to the gaffer.
“For myself, it’s a great time to be coming back, especially to a club that has huge potential.
“The aim this season was to establish ourselves at Southern League Premier level.
“While maintaining this stability, let’s now have real go at these so-called big clubs on a weekly basis.”
Thorpe will take charge of Town training sessions from this point forward and he was spotted putting the players through their paces before last Saturday’s game at St Neots.
Even in such a short space of time, Thorpe has been left mightily impressed with the team spirit at Stratford, a factor he feels can only help the club progress to the next level.
“When you look at them as a group of people, the players all want to be at Stratford,” he said.
“There are not many teams around where a manager can say that. The lads and the staff at the club spend a lot of time together.
“It’s all about making sure there is a good, positive environment around the place. We don’t want to be a club that gets in six or seven new players every few weeks.
“This club doesn’t have a massively high turnaround. Players want to come here and a lot of them want to stay.”
Stratford return to Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division action on Friday night when they go to Hayes and Yeading.
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