09/07/11
I would like to say how proud I am to be back at Slough Town FC... I relish the thought of managing the under 18 Allied Counties team
Mark Betts
Tony Thompson has stepped down as manager of Slough Town's successful under 18 side.
Tony has recently been promoted in his job as a teacher and feels he will not be able to devote as much time to maintaining the success his youth side has built over the past few seasons.
The youth team has enjoyed a remarkable few seasons under Tony since merging under the banner of Slough Town FC. In the club's first season, promotion to the Allied Counties Youth Football League Premier Division was achieved as a result of winning the 2008/09 Central division.
Slough easily coped with the step up to the Premier division and maintained their status comfortably – but went one better last season, winning the league after a remarkable campaign which had started badly, with the side winning just two of their opening six league fixtures. However, the side went on to blow most of their opponents away, and recorded 5-2 and 7-2 victories against the previous champions Wealdstone. The title was in fact won on goals scored, a fitting tribute to Tony's attacking mentality, with the side scoring an average of 3.2 goals a game (4.1 at home), finishing the season as top scorers, with Tony Mendy netting 47 of the side's 63 goals, winning him the league golden boot by over 20 clear goals.
During his time at the club, Tony has played a massive part in the development of local talent, most notably attacker Mo Sharif – who scored his first goal for Slough's senior side at Boreham Wood aged just 16 and is now at Barclays Premier League side Queen's Park Rangers – but also midfielder Jagdeep Makh, who went on to make 16 appearances for the senior side before moving to the United States for a university scholarship placement; Stan Mugisha, Dan Hicks, Ismail Mohamed, and the aforementioned Mendy.
Slough Town Football Club would like to place on record its thanks to Tony and appreciation of his dedication and hard work, which has played a huge part in promoting football in the community, and has helped put the club firmly on the map ahead of the move back to the town.
The management team of the youth structure has moved quickly to appoint a replacement, and we are delighted to announce the appointment of Mark Betts.
Mark will be no stranger to Rebels fans, having joined the club in 2006 to link up with Darron Wilkinson. Betts took over as manager of the senior side following Wilkinson's resignation during a difficult spell for the club, and left in March 2008, later taking up a coaching role at Burnham.
Betts commented: "I would like to say how proud I am to be back at Slough Town FC. Personally I relish the thought of managing the under 18 Allied Counties team. In the coming few days I will be able to confirm the appointment of further back room staff and coaches. However, after speaking with the youth team management I am very happy to confirm that Roy Gumbs will also be involved as one of the coaches."
The appointment of Mark will help in furthering the links within the Slough Town FC family of young players, which has recently grown with the addition of ten teams playing from under 8 to under 16 based at Farnham Park, and also with the first team, building a strong and firm foundation for the future of Slough Town FC.
The Allied Counties Youth Football League Premier Division constitution for the 2011/12 season has been confirmed and is as follows:
Aylesbury, Camberley Town, Farnborough Town, Harefield United, Henley United, Maidenhead United, Oxford City, Reading Town, Slough Town, Wokingham & Emmbrook.
Tony has recently been promoted in his job as a teacher and feels he will not be able to devote as much time to maintaining the success his youth side has built over the past few seasons.
The youth team has enjoyed a remarkable few seasons under Tony since merging under the banner of Slough Town FC. In the club's first season, promotion to the Allied Counties Youth Football League Premier Division was achieved as a result of winning the 2008/09 Central division.
Slough easily coped with the step up to the Premier division and maintained their status comfortably – but went one better last season, winning the league after a remarkable campaign which had started badly, with the side winning just two of their opening six league fixtures. However, the side went on to blow most of their opponents away, and recorded 5-2 and 7-2 victories against the previous champions Wealdstone. The title was in fact won on goals scored, a fitting tribute to Tony's attacking mentality, with the side scoring an average of 3.2 goals a game (4.1 at home), finishing the season as top scorers, with Tony Mendy netting 47 of the side's 63 goals, winning him the league golden boot by over 20 clear goals.
During his time at the club, Tony has played a massive part in the development of local talent, most notably attacker Mo Sharif – who scored his first goal for Slough's senior side at Boreham Wood aged just 16 and is now at Barclays Premier League side Queen's Park Rangers – but also midfielder Jagdeep Makh, who went on to make 16 appearances for the senior side before moving to the United States for a university scholarship placement; Stan Mugisha, Dan Hicks, Ismail Mohamed, and the aforementioned Mendy.
Slough Town Football Club would like to place on record its thanks to Tony and appreciation of his dedication and hard work, which has played a huge part in promoting football in the community, and has helped put the club firmly on the map ahead of the move back to the town.
The management team of the youth structure has moved quickly to appoint a replacement, and we are delighted to announce the appointment of Mark Betts.
Mark will be no stranger to Rebels fans, having joined the club in 2006 to link up with Darron Wilkinson. Betts took over as manager of the senior side following Wilkinson's resignation during a difficult spell for the club, and left in March 2008, later taking up a coaching role at Burnham.
Betts commented: "I would like to say how proud I am to be back at Slough Town FC. Personally I relish the thought of managing the under 18 Allied Counties team. In the coming few days I will be able to confirm the appointment of further back room staff and coaches. However, after speaking with the youth team management I am very happy to confirm that Roy Gumbs will also be involved as one of the coaches."
The appointment of Mark will help in furthering the links within the Slough Town FC family of young players, which has recently grown with the addition of ten teams playing from under 8 to under 16 based at Farnham Park, and also with the first team, building a strong and firm foundation for the future of Slough Town FC.
The Allied Counties Youth Football League Premier Division constitution for the 2011/12 season has been confirmed and is as follows:
Aylesbury, Camberley Town, Farnborough Town, Harefield United, Henley United, Maidenhead United, Oxford City, Reading Town, Slough Town, Wokingham & Emmbrook.
Copyright 2025 Slough Town F.C. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.sloughtownfc.net as the source.