Cirencester Town were struggling at the bottom of the Hellenic League Premier division in September but turned their fortunes around to make the playoff spots due, in part, to the coaching of John Brough.
The former Cheltenham Town defender “went in to fill in for the manager (James Mortimer-Jones) who was unable to attend due to injury”.
Having previously managed the club, Brough agreed to return temporarily until the previous manager’s health had been restored. “The deal was that I would leave at the end of the season if the previous manager wanted to come back, he did and he felt up to it so he’s taken the reigns once again.”
“I thought I would only be there for six weeks or two months but it ended up I was there for the whole season and we turned the form around.”
Brough assumed the role of manager the team with their record sitting winless with two draws and four losses. At the end of the season they went on to secure 21 victories and only lost six games in the league securing a fourth place finish and a playoff spot.
“The players were really good and listened to what I was trying to teach them and tell them and they put it on the pitch. We managed to get playoffs which was a great achievement, we just failed at the last hurdle.”
Cirencester faced Droitwich Spa in the play-offs and lost 1-0 ending their playoff run. The 53 year old acknowledged this loss, “It’s the playoffs, a team can finish 20 points ahead of another team and yet the team goes through on the lesser points, it’s what the playoffs are about.
“Unfortunately we didn’t perform to the levels we can. We had a few missing that day which impacted the bench, in recent games leading up to that we put the subs on at 60 minutes which gave us impetus whereas we didn’t really have that option on the night and they deserved to go through. “
Now Brough is no longer with Cirencester he alluded to what’s next for him. “Everyone needs a break from football but I’ll see what happens to be honest, I’m not in any major rush to find a job, if the right job happens to be available I’ll look into that. I’m Cheltenham based so I want it to be fairly local.”
