Moneyfields boss Glenn Turnbull to unveil new signing tonight – and he’s got plans to make his squad fitter

Manager Glenn Turnbull will introduce a new signing at Moneyfields training session tonight.
Fraser Quirke, Glenn Turnbull and Paul Barton on the sidelines together. Another coach has now been drafted in to help out.
Picture: Chris MoorhouseFraser Quirke, Glenn Turnbull and Paul Barton on the sidelines together. Another coach has now been drafted in to help out.
Picture: Chris Moorhouse
Fraser Quirke, Glenn Turnbull and Paul Barton on the sidelines together. Another coach has now been drafted in to help out. Picture: Chris Moorhouse

But instead of unveiling an addition to his playing squad, it will instead be a fresh face in his backroom staff.

Former Portsmouth community coach and Havant & Waterlooville Academy manager Neil Tomlinson becomes the third UEFA licenced coach after Paul Barton and assistant manager Frazer Quirke.

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Though he agreed to help out several weeks ago, tonight will be the first time Tomlinson has been involved in a training session.

Moneys, without a game this weekend, are due to spend tonight working on tactics for their Portsmouth Senior Cup final meeting with two tiers higher Gosport Borough at Westleigh Park on April 6.

Turnbull explained the reasoning behind Tomlinson’s arrival.

‘It’s about offering players different things, and there can’t be many clubs at our level who can offer coaching from three UEFA qualified coach,’ he explained.

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‘I know there’s a dichotomy between having too many voices and not enough voices.

‘But I look at other benches on matchdays and sometimes there’s only the three of us (Barton and Quirke being the other two).

‘I look at someone like Horndean’s bench and there’s people everywhere - you’ve got Darren Robson, Jason Mann, Phil Braithwaite, before you even get to Birmy (manager Michael Birmingham).’

Turnbull hasn’t finished with his backroom team yet as he plots to ensure Moneyfields are further up the Wessex League Premier Division table in 2022/23.

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‘I’ll be looking to bring in a fitness coach. One of the lessons we have learned this season is we need to be fitter.

‘We’ve done well in games for 80 minutes and lost them - Baffins at home (when Moneys were 2-0 up but lost 3-2) being a prime example. That’s one area we can improve on.’

Turnbull’s cousin, Gavin Jones - who has been a member of Portsmouth boxer Mikey McKinson’s training team - could well take on some of those fitness coach duties.

Barton will be at Privett Park on Saturday to run the rule over Gosport, who have a huge Southern League Premier South fixture with Taunton.

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Turnbull might even go and watch as well, though he has also been invited to US Portsmouth’s home game with Christchurch as part of his former club’s Non-League Day celebrations.

But while Boro boss Shaun Gale can be confident Moneys will field their strongest possible XI in the final, Turnbull has no such ‘luxury’.

‘I’m not sure how serious Gosport will take the final,’ he said. ‘We could go and watch them against Taunton, they could field their best XI, then be totally different against us.

‘When I was at US, we watched Whitchurch and spent two training sessions working on tactics - and then on the day the player we’d singled out wasn’t playing!

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‘We’ll do some work in training but you don’t want to run the risk of over-respecting them.’

Moneyfields have two league games before aiming to lift the Portsmouth Senior Cup for the third season running.

They go to Wessex League Cup finalists Fareham next Tuesday before travelling to relegated Amesbury the following Saturday.

Though Moneys are inactive this weekend, Turnbull said no first teamers would be turning out for the reserves against Fleetlands in the Hampshire Premier League.