Former Fleetlands boss Rich Bessey misses out on Wessex League managerial return

The former Hayling and Paulsgrove boss stepped down as manager of Fleetlands in November of last year.

At the time he cited personal and work reasons for the decision.

Bessey is currently managing the Friends Fighting Cancer team who play in Division 4 of the City of Portsmouth Sunday League.

But he has his heart set on a much higher-profile role.

He was recently interviewed for the vacant manager’s job at Wessex League Premier Division club Alresford Town.

It would have been his second Wessex role, having been appointed Hayling United manager when he was just 27 in 2013, having previously managed Horndean reserves.

After watching the club’s 2-1 league loss to US Portsmouth, though, Bessey missed out - the Magpies appointing ex-Tadley Calleva manager Adam Clark, a UEFA A licenced coach, instead.

Clark had previously been working as an analyst at Conference North club Hereford, having also had coaching stints at Basingstoke Town and at academy level with QPR and Reading.

‘I was impressed they (Alresford) reached out to me,’ said Bessey. ‘I’ve gone under the radar since leaving Fleetlands.’

Recalling his departure from the then Hampshire Premier League club, where he had been since the summer of 2019, he said: ‘I was feeling stressed, but probably too proud to admit I was struggling.

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‘I wasn’t seeing my children or my missus (due to the demands of football management), and it was taking its toll.

‘Work, family and football - one of them had to go.

‘I missed the changing room, I missed winning games of football, I didn’t really miss the day-to-day running of a team.

‘I’m in a much better state of mind now, but I don’t see a role out there for me.’

Bessey said he had turned down the offer of a chairman’s role at a Hampshire Premier League club.

Though his former club Paulsgrove are currently managerless following Steve Ledger’s departure, that is not a job he will be applying for either.

Since Bessey left Fleetlands, he has watched the Coptermen claim the Wessex League promotion he had craved during his time at Lederle Lane.

‘Most of my players have left, but some are still there,’ he said. ‘They’ve got more support now, more stewards, there’s more people around the club, it’s in a much better place.

‘It was disappointing I didn’t get the promotion I felt I deserved.

‘There’s some good people at the club, Dan (Greenwood, manager) is doing a good job. If they can stay up it would be an unbelievable achievement.’