They are no strangers to the club having both been involved with Curzon Ashton in various capacities over the last 20 years and their latest roles now see them take the reins at The Nash 

We spoke to the pair regarding their new challenge, the development of the club, pre-season preparations and the season ahead…

First of all congratulations on the new roles, everyone at the club is delighted to see you both at the helm and to take the club forward for the foreseeable.

After what will have been a week of uncertainty for the fans, do you have a message for the fans/any words of reassurance and what can be expected?

(M) The message for the fans is, as always, when the manager changes at Curzon, the core of everything that we do is still the strength. So we carry on, we keep doing the right things, we trust our players, we recruit well and we go forward into a new season with lots of positivity.

(J) We’ve got a good core of players and the management are working really hard to continue the good form of the last two season. Thank you for your continued support, you never let us down and we hope to deliver.

The players return to training next weekend and pre-season fixtures begin soon, how are your preparations going? Have you had time to put any plans in place?

(M) Coming to the start of the season now it’s been a long time of rest, hopefully the players have enjoyed their holidays, we’re excited to get started, we’re looking forward to a new season and we’ll have some new faces to work into the group and we can’t wait for it to start.

(J) Mark and I have got some really good and challenging pre-season fixtures lined up and we are ready to go in terms of our training schedule/preparations.

Speaking of pre-season, the club are heading to Spain this summer, as well as using this time as a great opportunity to prepare for the new season – with the bonus of a pre-season fixture, will this be a good opportunity to bond as a team given there are so many new faces?

(M) The pre-season tour to Murcia will be a great chance for all the lads to get to know each other quickly, we will have two training sessions on the pitch and the friendly game against Wigan Athletic, additionally we will have training sessions in the gym, in the pool and also possibly on the padel court so it’ll be a really good opportunity to bond.

(J) It is a massive opportunity and a great experience for the lads and the club. The lads will benefit from the warm weather training and to also play a team such as league 1 team Wigan Athletic is a great experience for everyone involved. Off the pitch, the trip will definitely help regarding integrating the new faces and gel us all together ahead of the new season,

In terms of new faces, can we expect to see any other signings?

(M) In terms of the squad, the management staff are working extremely hard to replace players who have decided to move on, it will be a process that takes time but things such as going on the pre-season trip are massively important to get all the players bonded and gelled together but it’s exciting times ahead.

(J) To reiterate Mark’s message, the management team are working hard to bring in some new faces and continue to build and strengthen the squad – whilst we can’t currently talk specifics, we are hopeful there will be another one or two singings in the coming weeks, as well as a new face signing this weekend.

Looking ahead to the new season that is fast approaching, do you have any main aims and objectives for this year?

(M) Goals and ambition for the season are always to improve on everything you do, as a group and as an individual and try and get to the heights that we have done for the past two seasons, it will be a difficult season because of the transition of players leaving and new players coming in but we’ll be positive, work hard, that’s from the board of directors all the way down to everybody involved. It’s a journey we can look forward to and it’s exciting times ahead.

(J) As Mark mentioned, our aim for this season is to continue to build and carry on the good form from last year, we’ll take one game at a time, play some really good, exciting football and seeing where that takes us.

Finally, there have been a number of changes at the club over recent weeks, most notably the integration of the Women’s team into the club structure and the creation of the newly formed Reserves Team, how do you think these changes will make a difference to the club, and what impact will the Reserves Team have in terms of bringing the gap between the Youth and the First Team?

(M) Regarding the club as a whole, bringing a reserves team into a Saturday league, the u18s have always been strong at Curzon and they can support the reserves. The reserves will be training in a way that the first team train and obviously the women coming under the umbrella of the club and bringing everything together has always been a long term aim and dream of mine, to bring everybody together at Curzon, as a family club, as it should be.

(J) Obviously we are now all one club which means it is not only a good opportunity for the reserves and their continued development and progression but it will also will be a good opportunity for the first team squad to gain minutes , the creation of a new team will also strengthen the pathway and create opportunities, between the reserves and the first team.

We can also confirm that Goalkeeper Coach Kieran Bentley and Physiotherapist Lucia Ciccirillo will continue with the club this season and therefore complete the 25/26 management team.