Pete Stiles steps down as Fareham Town manager – but insists he will be ‘more involved than ever’ in new behind-the-scenes role

Five and a half years after being appointed the Reds boss, Stiles has handed over first team responsibilities to Graham Rix.

Stiles only brought Rix to Cams Alders as first team coach last month, after the pair had previously worked together during the former England international’s time at AFC Portchester.

‘The club is in a really good place,’ said Stiles. ‘It’s got a fantastic under-18s, a fantastic under-23s, there’s good people in and around the place.

‘Now is the right time to look more closely at the direction and infrastructure.

‘It’s no good having a good first team if there’s no infrastructure behind it.

‘The club has come a long way. The infrastructure is getting better, but it could be better still. The club has to be sustainable.’

‘You can go as far as you want, but it’s all about having the right finance.

‘Winchester are now in the Southern Premier, but I’m sure they’re not sat there thinking ‘this will do for us’. You want to keep building.

Stiles, whose new role has yet to be made public, has no worries about leaving the squad he has built in the hands of Rix and his two assistants, Matt Powell and Gary Austin.

‘You can’t ask for much more than a coach who’s played for England and Arsenal,’ Stiles remarked. ‘Matt Powell’s got great knowledge of this area and Gary Austin’s got great experience playing in the Wessex.

‘If they want anything, they’ll only have to ask me. And if one of them can’t make a game, I’ll be happy to jump in the dugout.’

Stiles added: ‘I’m probably doing some work for the club every day, but you can’t do it all.

‘If I wanted something football-wise, I’ve had to do it myself. The other day I ordered some tracksuits, that’s not really the first team manager’s job but I had to do it.

‘I put the committee together, first team managers don’t normally do that.

‘The club is going in the right direction, and we can keep it going in the right direction. That’s my thinking.

‘We’d like to create a better environment, do more corporate things on matchdays, make it more attractive. There’s lots and lots of things we can do.

‘It’s not as if I’m walking away, I’m getting more involved.

‘I woke up this morning thinking ‘have I done the right thing?’ but I know it’s the right decision.

‘It will be nice to have a bit more time for myself. I’m 60 next year, I’ve got two grandchildren. I’ve been in football for 22 years, at Portchester and Fareham.

‘It would be nice to think I can take a holiday without it being in June.’

Stiles was appointed first team boss in early January 2017 - Steve Stone had just been sacked following a 4-2 home loss to Horndean that left Fareham rock bottom of the Premier Division. A few weeks earlier, the Reds had been crushed 7-1 at home by Blackfield.

Stiles made an instant impact, winning 12 of his 18 games that season, losing just three, as the Reds finished an impressive 12th.

‘The club is a lot better now than it was,’ he stated. ‘It was an absolute ****hole when I arrived. They locked up after one game and opened up for the next one - now we have people down there working every day.’

Stiles admits it’s ‘massively disappointing’ that he didn’t win a trophy in his time in charge.

The nearest he got was losing last season’s Wessex League Cup final 2-1 to Shaftesbury.

Last season provided a host of highlights as Fareham became known as one of the non-league pyramid’s most entertaining teams. They scored 100 Wessex League goals, but conceded 98.

‘Even though it was horrendous at times and we shipped lots of goals, there were lots of great memories,’ said Stiles. ‘Highest away win, record win, scoring 100 goals in all competitions by Christmas.

‘Beating Horndean 5-1 away when they were top, beating Baffins (5-4 away) when they could have gone top. Beating Jersey Bulls (in the FA Vase) was a big day, beating Portchester in the (Wessex League Cup) semi-final when they were the odds-on favourites.

‘There were lots of highlights. You can say we were unpredictable, but you can’t say we weren’t entertaining.’

Stiles’ final game in charge was a 1-0 Wessex defeat at Brockenhurst last weekend.

It was a match which saw the Reds’ Casey Bartlett-Scott booked inside the first 10 minutes for timewasting, according to his manager.

‘The referee should have worn a sombrero,’ quipped Stiles. ‘I think the sun might have got to him!’