“It wasn’t great before Christmas, performances weren’t great, we weren’t great.”
Hungerford Town manager Danny Robinson is as open and honest to the media as you’ll get and he’s no different when I spoke to him on Tuesday morning as The Crusaders look to extend a winning run of.. – well I promised we wouldn’t talk about that as I have a habit of jinxing these things.
The West Berkshire side though have transformed in the last few weeks into a side that is making a late dart up the outside for a place in the Southern League Premier Division South play-offs this season after sinking into the relegation places during the festive period.
Robinson is pragmatic with the reasoning after an eighth-placed finish in 2023/24 suggested ‘onwards and upwards’ for the club.
“It took us a long time to get over losing Conor McDonagh. He’s a 30-goal-a-season striker and you can’t just replace those. We lost him early and he’s out for the season along with Jacob Bancroft.
“We had Elis Watts out as well with a hamstring injury – he’s a wonderful talent, we just couldn’t get going, every time we won and it looked like we’d turned a corner, we’d lose the next two.”
New Year New Crusaders
Hungerford then came in to 2025 looking over their shoulder rather than ahead – and Watts departed in mid-January. Robinson refreshed the side with some experience and so far, it’s paying dividends for the former Thatcham Town boss.
“Curtis Angell came back, Kyle Tooze has come back, these guys bring character to the changing room. They’re experienced and they have been there and done it on the pitch,” Robinson says. “Curtis is constantly telling me he’s saved my job!”
Angell may have been joking with his manager, but there’s no doubt that at many clubs, a drop down the table like Hungerford experienced would have resulted in a change in the dugout. But Robinson says he never felt that pressure from the club: “I have never been concerned for my job here, the people behind the scenes are brilliant. They know what the club is, that we’re doing things on a budget and that it takes time. Our chairman Cris Bowden is the one who picks me up.
“They’ve never once put the fear of god into me, I’m more than capable of doing that to myself!”
The Jordon Ibe effect
There was one notable post-Christmas signing Hungerford made, as ex-Liverpool and AFC Bournemouth winger Jordon Ibe checked in to Bulpit Lane. Robinson calls him “a breath of fresh air.”
The attacker has been limited in opportunity so far since joining from Hayes & Yeading United, but Robinson tells me that part of that is planned because “he’s not played much football in 18 months.”
But the other part of the argument is this unspecified winning run Hungerford have been on. The oldest cliche in the book could well be ‘don’t change a winning team’, and to Robinson that still applies.
“We’ve 34-year-old Kyle Tooze playing as well as he ever has, we’ve got young Jose Marquez playing so well,” he says. “Jordon is having to be patient. He’s experienced, he knows how football was and we saw a proper glimpse of what he can do last week.”
With the team clicking then, is a play-off spot on his horizon (I think you – reader – already know the football answer to this, and Robinson doesn’t disappoint!).
“I’m going to give you a crap answer and say ‘We’re concentrating on staying up’!”, he says.
“We’re in a position to be talked about now aren’t we. But we’ve just got to focus on Poole Town, then Sholing.”
Part two of this interview will be published later this week, including a focus on young star Jose Marquez, looking back at Thatcham Town and the FA Vase as well as Danny’s relationships with professional clubs. If you’d like a notification of when Part 2 is available, join the mailing list in the green box above, or below this.
