Ex-Fareham, Portchester and Baffins Milton boss Louis Bell: ‘I’d love to stay on at Moneyfields’

The former Baffins Milton, Fareham Town and AFC Portchester boss was this week placed in temporary charge at Dover Road along with his ex-Cams Alders colleague Louis Savage.

They will prepare the team for a Portsmouth Senior Cup semi-final at home to Fareham on April 24, and possibly a final against Baffins after that.

Then the pair will hand over to Turnbull once he has finished his 2020/21 commitments with US Portsmouth.

Bell has only been involved with Moneys since last summer, and hasn’t seen much matchday action - the club only managed four Southern League Division 1 South games before the season was unsurprisingly curtailed last month.

But he is keen to remain part of a new era which starts when Turnbull, a former Moneys youth and reserve team boss, takes the reins towards the end of May.

Brought to the club by former boss Dave Carter last summer, Bell admits Moneyfields have helped ‘breathe fresh life’ back into the former West Ham and Portsmouth academy coach.

‘I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at Moneyfields,’ said Bell. ‘It’s been great.

‘Dave asked me to get involved last summer, just helping out.

‘I knew a lot of the boys - I coached Steve Hutchings when he was a kid at Portsmouth, I know Connor Bailey, I knew George Barker and Marley Ridge from when I was at Gosport.

‘There was a great atmosphere in the dressing room - it was the sort of ‘one for all and all for one’ spirit that I had at Baffins.

‘To be honest, it breathed some new life back into me.’

Bell is a familiar figure on the local non-league scene.

He was appointed Fareham boss in 2004 after Jon Gittens had quit and coached under Carter at Horndean before having a spell as AFC Portchester boss in between the departure of Glenn Bridgeman and the arrival of Graham Rix in 2013.

Bell was appointed Baffins Milton Rovers boss in the summer of 2014 and took them out of the Hampshire Premier League and into the Wessex Premier thanks to back-to-back promotions.

He pitched up at Moneys after a spell coaching at Gosport Borough, where he was also caretaker manager for a time.

With that experience, he was an ideal choice to hold the fort until Turnbull and his USP backroom staff arrive.

‘Pete Seiden asked me and Louis Savage to look after the team for the cup semi-final against Fareham,’ said Bell.

‘We’ll come back to training on April 1, I’ll look to play at least two friendlies - we might have a game against the reserves because it would be nice to have a look at them.

‘The final is against Baffins so that will make me even more determined to beat Fareham!

‘Pete and the committee have asked me if I want to stay on, because of all the experience I’ve got, and I said I’m happy to.

‘I’ve yet to have a conversation with Glenn about whether he would want me to stay.

‘I know Glenn well, I used to see him a fair bit. He was at Moneyfields before and he’s done really well at US, he’s got a good side there.

‘I am sure he’s looking to kick on now, and I think he’ll do well here.

‘As I say, I haven’t spoken to Glenn yet to see what he wants, but I’m happy to help out.’

Asked if he’d like a return to management one day, Bell said: ‘Yes, I think I would.

‘I did pop out of the game for a while with health issues, but I feel fit and I feel well now.

‘I did miss the game - football is my passion, it’s been my life.’

Even though Moneys didn’t play many matches in 2020/21, Bell was enjoying life on and off the pitch at the club prior to the third national lockdown.

‘We had a couple of good cup runs, we were getting decent crowds.

‘I knew a few people who couldn’t go to Pompey who came along and watched Moneyfields.

‘People were coming up to me in the bar and saying they’d seen some good football.

‘Everyone is treated well here, and the volunteers they get … it amazes me, the people they get week in week out to help out.’

Bell would expect a handful of the Moneyfields squad to follow Carter to Portchester after assistant manager Gavin Spurway and coach Brett Poate quickly followed him to The Crest Finance Stadium in early February.

‘Dave is the sort of manager that players want to play for,’ said Bell.

‘If you treat people decently and fair, they will want to play for you.

‘Moneyfields need to start bringing young players through and coaching them to a good standard.

‘They’ve got a good set-up - the reserves and youth teams are going well.

‘They need to do what Michael Birmingham has done at Horndean, he’s done a terrific job in bringing young players through like Benny Read with not much of a budget.

‘It’s exciting times for the club.

‘We’ll just take the team for the Fareham game and see where we go from there.

‘I know Pete (Stiles, Fareham boss) well - he was the reserves manager at Portchester when I was doing the first team.

‘It’s good to be working with Louis Savage again - he’s got a great knowledge of local football.

‘That’s what you need to try to do as a manager - pick people around you who are good football people.’