‘We can replicate what we did at Ascot United’ Jamie Tompkins is ready to get back in the hot-seat

It’s a case of “wait and see” says former Ascot United manager Jamie Tompkins as we discuss his eagerness to get back into management.

The managerial merry-go-round in Non-League football is as active as it is in the professional game, although you could certainly argue there is more opportunity to build an ‘era’ at a club like Tompkins did at Ascot, like Alan Devonshire has done at Maidenhead United and Mark Bartley has done at Marlow.

Five months since departing the Yellas, Tompkins is waiting for the right opportunity – personal circumstances mean he is in no rush to jump at the first opportunity. There have been discussions with clubs, but for now, the FA Vase-winning boss is open to discussions.

One job Tompkins was linked heavily to was that of Kingstonian after the club dismissed managers Dean Thomas and Mitchal Gough at the end of September. The team were just outside the Isthmian League play-offs and have since appointed former manager Scott Harris to the position.

The sort of backlash Kingstonian wasn’t dissimilar to what happened with you at Ascot, what did you make of it?

They’re obviously a very popular pair at the club and they hadn’t got off to a bad start, so I wasn’t necessarily surprised to see that kind of reaction. I think that probably shows that it wasn’t the right decision to remove them. But as we know, every club has its own reasons and judgment calls they’ve got to make, and they felt like they needed to go in a different direction. But I know that didn’t go down very well at all.

What’s life been like? Obviously, you’ve got your job at Brentford, but I know you’re itching to get back into the non-league game?

I was at Ascot for eight and a half years in total, and seven years as the First Team manager. It’s actually been really nice to have a break. It wasn’t a break I expected or wanted or needed, necessarily, but at the same time, I moved house in July, and my son Alfie turned one in August. So there’s been other priorities for us as a family to focus on and spend more time together, which has been really, really lovely.

Now our circumstances have settled down, I’m starting to think about what opportunities there may be available and what might be right for me. So certainly keen on getting back into it and being involved in management again at some point, whether its the right club and the right opportunity is yet to unfold, but, yeah, certainly keen to get back out there at some point.

You’ve built up a reputation with everything that you’ve done, so you can afford to be picky right? Is that what you’re doing? Or is it that any sort of challenge is a good challenge?

Any sort of challenge is a good one, but just as long as it is the right project.

It’s got to be something that really excites me as a project, not just for the short term, but for the foreseeable future. Yes, I’m interested in winning the next game, that’s always the priority, but I’m also interested in winning over a longer period of time. If there’s interest in me from a club, then as long as we’re aligned on that in terms of what that project is about and what the ambition is, and as long as there’s trust and honesty in that process, then I think I’d certainly be interested to take it on.

Inevitably, it’s usually a club that is not doing so well, where you end up going into a new role. So there’s going to be some firefighting to do to begin with, to get the team and the club back on track. But ultimately, if their ambition is to progress season on season, year on year, then that is something I’m certainly keen on for sure.

You were very good at bringing through young players at Ascot and giving them chances, but you also were very good at bringing in experienced big players. Which of those do you prefer? Which one’s more important to you?

The most important thing is to get a group of players that want to be part of the club for a long time and want to represent the club, whether that’s those younger players, which I love working with, seeing them grow with potential and flourish with their talents over time. It gives you something to really work on over several years with them and to help them either establish themselves in the team or move on to the levels above. I love working with young players and giving them the opportunities to play in senior football.

Of course, that has to be mixed with the right level of experienced players around them, and again, working with those experienced players, as I have done in the past that you know. People like Harry Grant, Dan Bailey, Chris Ellis, Ian Davies, Louis Bouwers, Jamie Ashdown in goal for me at some points as well.

These were people that just understood what non-league was about, and can share those experiences with those young players, which is a key factor to help those young players grow and flourish. They need to understand what the game is about, especially in non-league football. So for me, it’s always been the balance of that. I never go one way. I always have a nice balance with that leaning more towards the younger players because they’re the future of the game. We always have to remind ourselves that is the future. They’re going to be the next group of experienced players in the future and it’s about getting that balance right.

As a manager, you’ve perhaps been spoiled at Ascot? A good foundation and probably a good budget. How do you deal with that then where you might be going into a club with a smaller budget, or certainly less of a good foundation. How would you deal with smaller budget, or even no budget, and how would you deal with a club that doesn’t have quite the foundation that you’ve had?

I have, I have been spoiled, although we had to work a couple years for that. The playing budget at the beginning wasn’t anything like it was when I left, but it was always about progression and you could see that at the club with the move from grass to artificial pitch during my time and the improvements that were made.

But it was always about feeling like you could move forward, and I think in different circumstances at another club that doesn’t necessarily have the foundations or the finances, it’s about understanding what they want to work towards and what we can do to support that.

Obviously, from a player point of view, it’s just being a little bit smarter in terms of who can be recruited. And sometimes that means that the direction will be to work with a younger group of players that want to establish themselves and flourish in non-league football, who have not been necessarily been given that opportunity, but you tap into those experienced players that are not necessarily motivated by money and want to really be part of an environment and make an impact in a club towards maybe the end of their playing days.

There’s also players who just trust working with a management team, and sometimes that goes a long way. Rather than them going for an opportunity that may get them some expenses.

So there’s different ways to tackle your question. The obvious one will be, for sure, to recruit those younger players that have so much talent but are just searching for that opportunity to play at the highest level possible. And for myself as a coach, and my background as a coach, I just mentioned before, just working with younger players is something that I love to do, I know that I can help them reach reach their potential, and maybe then get the big money moves somewhere else!

There’s one or two of your former players starting out in management, Dan Bailey has started his managerial career at Virginia Water but recently stepped down. Have you talked to him? It’s been a tough start for him.

I’ve spoken to Dan a few times about his experiences and what’s been going on at Virginia Water. I always felt that Dan would become a manager in non-league football. I felt like he would be the perfect person to take it on. He has the temperament and the experience and also the knowledge and care to to be in that position, but it’s always a learning when you step into that on the other side from playing to management and really get into grips of how it works, and understanding what he wants exactly.

Everyone works with different resources, and there’s different challenges, especially if you’re walking into a group that has been established at Virginia Water for many, many years.

I’m gutted for Dan that it did not work out at Virginia Water, but I know that he will, over time, get this absolutely right in a way that he’s comfortable and happy with. And once he’s in that position, he’ll thrive. I think Dan is just a fantastic person, and will do things right and take his time and be patient with it.

There’ll be nothing reckless about any of his decisions at all. So in terms of a manager, you always, always feel like you need someone who’s going to be calm in those very difficult moments and not get caught up in all the wins and the losses and be on a roller coaster. He just, he’s very level-headed, so I’ve got no doubt he’ll do so well in the future.

Do you keep an eye on your former players and how they’re doing?

They’ve spread out across so many different clubs. Last season was a really, really good group as well, and I felt like this year we could’ve progressed even further. But Harry Grant, Conor Holland and Joe Gator, they’re all playing for Hartley Wintney at the moment, you have Louie Rogers who’s thriving at Hayes & Yeading and doing really well. Anas Igozouln at Leatherhead has started this season really well and is contributing a lot of goals there.

Josh Edwards, George Lock and Khaled Simo are still at Ascot. Josh has obviously done really well this season and has become the Captain of the team which is a natural progression for him. Mark Scott over at Uxbridge. It’s nice to see some of them doing well, and some of them are having some of their own challenges.

Our younger players last year have gone out to other clubs in Step 5 to get more regular game time experience. That’s nice to see, because they needed that. So, yeah, it’s interesting to see what paths they’ve taken and where they’re ending up.

And if something comes up for our management team, whether it’s the right thing for them to come and join our new journey is to be seen, depending on where we are and what we’re doing.

I really enjoyed working with them, and obviously it went really well. I’m sure one of them will be getting a promotion somewhere at some point. But as long as they’re all playing and they’re all enjoying it in some way, that’s that’s the most important

What’s next then. Where are you looking? How far will you travel?

I am absolutely looking to get back into non-league management at some point when the right opportunity is available and the ambitions align along with trust, honesty and respect.

There’s a club that will certainly get a really committed management team that can help build a really strong culture over time. It’s something that I feel like what we did at Ascot is something we can replicate again, elsewhere. So I’m looking forward to that journey, wherever that takes us. I’m confident in ourselves that we can be really successful again.

I’m certainly willing to travel for any. I was already traveling some distance to get to Ascot. I obviously work in West London, in Brentford, so in terms of getting out to different areas, I’m open to anywhere, any league, whether it’s the Southern League or whether it’s the Isthmian Leagues, again, it’s just if the project is right, if the club’s ambitions align with mine, then I’ll be there.