The game will kick off at 2pm at Mill Road and will still include ex-Southampton players such as Rod Wallace, Jimmy Case, Claus Lundekvam, Ian Baird, Jason Dodd and more.

More details will follow as they are confirmed but players likely to turning out are Rod Wallace, Jimmy Case, Claus Lundekvam, Ian Baird, Jason Dodd and more.

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The Mullets will face fellow Sussex County League Division 1 side Hailsham Town in the FA Cup Extra Preliminary Qualifying Road.  The game will take place at Mill Road on the second Saturday of the season the 14th August.  If a replay is required it would take place the following Tuesday 17th August at the Beaconsfield.

The reward for the winners of that tie is a trip to Ryman League South outfit Worthing on Saturday 28th August and should they progress further they would have to travel away again to either Peacehaven & Telescombe, Ashford Town (Mx) or Frimley Green.

In the FA Vase the club has  a bye into the Second Qualifying Round were they will host the winners of Three Bridges and Littlehampton on Saturday 18th September before a potential first round proper tie with either Selsey or Lordswood/Southwick.

The first warm up match of the season will be on Saturday 17th July against Bournemouth Poppies, who finished 4th in the Wessex League Division 1 last time around.

Tuesday 20th July will see The Mullet sternest pre-season run out as Woking come to Mill Road, new manager Gary Wheatcroft using his connections with former Southampton teammate Graham Baker to pull in the Conference South outfit.

Another game follows two days later on Thursday 22nd with former East Preston and Littlehampton manager Trevor Waller bringing his Midhurst side to Mill Road for a 7.30pm kick off before the annual Bill Merrit trophy is contested with local Rivals Littlehampton on Saturday 24th July.  The Mullets will be hoping to retain the trophy yet again after a late Rob Grove goal gave them a 1-0 victory last year.

The team then travels to Worthing Utd on Tuesday 27th July before finishing their preparations with a clash with former coach Brett Torode’s Rustington side on Wednesday 4th August at Mill Road.

Wheatcroft is still hopeful of arranging a match with Ex-Saints, a team which consists of ex Southampton Football Club players.  This will be on a Sunday but the exact date of which is yet to be agreed.  Keep checking ArundelFC.com for further news.

Pre-season details in full

Sat 17/07 Bournemouth Poppies (h) 3pm
Tue 20/07 Woking (h) 7.30pm
Thu 22/07 Midhurst (h) 7.30pm
Sat 24/07 Littlehampton (h) 3pm
Tue 27/07 Worthing Utd (a) 7.30pm
Wed 04/08 Rustington (h) 7.30pm

New first team manager Gary Wheatcroft has already used the contacts from his professional playing days to benefit the club, calling in a favour from Woking manager Graham Baker a teammate of Wheatcroft’s at Southampton in the late seventies.

At present the match is provisionally arranged for Friday 30th July but may be subject to change as Woking finalise their pre-season schedule.

A potential link between the two clubs could also be established whereby fringe players from the Cardinals maybe sent to Mill Road for some valuable game time

The club will only be running a front side this year so anyone with aspirations of playing Sussex County League Division 1 football next season is welcome to come along and meet at the club for 7.30pm.  Training will run every Tuesday and Thursdays in the weeks after this in the run up to the new season which kicks off on Saturday August 7th.

For further information please contact the club via email admin@arundelfc.com

As a player Wheatcroft was on the books of Southampton, Bournemouth and Portsmouth while also enjoying prolific spells at county level with Chichester, where he won the Division 1 title in 1980 and Selsey where as player/manager we won the division 2 and league cup double.

Another of Wheatcroft’s claim’s to fame is that he played in the Netherlands in 1981 for Haarlem FC at the same time as former Chelsea and Newcastle manager and Dutch international, Ruud Gullit.

Wheatcroft who most recently has been coaching in the United States will now set his sites on retaining the bulk of last season’s playing squad while hoping to bring in signings of his own to improve on the Mullets rather disappointing 12th place finish last time around.

Everyone at the club would like to welcome Gary to the club and this Sunday 6th June from 12.30pm their will be a barbeque at Mill Road which will give the players and supporters the chance to meet the new manager in a more informal way.

Towers took over the role from Vic Short in 2007 and equaled Short’s 3rd position of the previous season before going one better the following season narrowly missing out on the clubs first championship since 1987 when they finished runners up, 2 points behind winners Eastbourne United Association.  Towers last season in charge was not so successful with players leaving resulting in a mixed campaign at one point flirting with relegation to Division 2 before a late season surge saw the club finish mid-table.

He has said to have been considering his future since the last game of the season with St Francis Rangers 2 weeks ago but only told chairman Bob Marchant of his decision over the weekend.

In an official statement Towers said: ‘It is with regret I’ve informed Bob Marchant my Chairman that after a lot of thought and consideration I’ve decided to step down as Arundel Football Club Manager’.

He went onto say: ‘I’ve really enjoyed my 4 years at the Club and will leave with some great memories to treasure. I’ve had a great relationship with my Chairman and I thank him for giving me the opportunity to manage at such a lovely Club. I would also like to thank everyone at the Club for all their help and support. Particularly, the players and my staff who have been fantastic and I wish them all well for the future.’

Chairman Bob Marchant now has the task of appointing a manager to take the club forward next season and is welcoming applications from any interested parties.  Too apply for the position please fill out an application form here

Spirits were good after a good end to the season with 5 wins and a draw following an ultimately disappointing campaign which saw the Mullets fail to build on their runners-up finish last season, eventually placing 12th in Division 1 this time around.

The first awards to be handed out were that of the reserve team.  Following a season of turmoil for the reserves with manager Malcolm Hardwood given the sack in the new year and thus the majority of the squad leaving, 15 odd players were signed on at one point just to field a side.

Given that only two awards were given out for the second string with managers player, chosen by Richard Towers going to teenage goalkeeper Rhys Griffiths who also had a successful spell in between the sticks for the first team at the end of the season. The other award for top goalscorer went to one of the few players present for the entire campaign, striker Richard Harewood who found the net 16 times in the league, which was 3rd overall for the Reserve Section Premier Division behind Charlie Francis (23) of Eastbourne Town and Shane Saunders (18) of Eastbourne UA.

The first award for the first team was for managers player  and itwent to defender David Walker, who had a very solid season at the heart of the defence as also captained the side a number of times in the absence of club captain Josh Biggs. Walker had a very successful evening also taking home the Supporters Player of the Year award and also the award for goal of the season for his wonder strike against Pagham at Mill Road way back in August.

The Player of the Year award voted by the players themselves went to Matt Axell who had a good second half to the season at either left back or left midfield managing to also contribute 9 goals, including 4 in the last 6 games.  Axell was also the most used player this year, featuring in 43 games.

The final award of the evening went to striker Scott Tipper who picked up the award for first team top goalscorer, netting 22 times overall.  The awards were followed by a lot of drinking and some quite shocking karaoke by some of the players and management!

It was the second game this week to be called off at the club after Monday’s match with Crawley Down was again rained off.

It leaves the Mullets with now an even more congested run in with 11 games to fit in and the season scheduled to finish on Saturday May 1st, just 4 weeks away.

The team travels to high flying Chichester City tomorrow for an 11am kick off which weather permitting starts a run of 6 games in just 12 days with Peacehaven visiting Mill Road 2 days later before an away game with Mile Oak Saturday and 3 home games the following week against Wick (Monday), Whitehawk (Wednesday) and East Grinstead (Saturday).

It’s a similar schedule that the Mullets faced this time last year when then challenging for the Division 1 title and many feel having only missed out in the end by 2 points that so many games in a short space of time may have enventually cost Arundel the championship.

After a much more disappointing season this time around its the at the bottom of the table the Mullets find themselves battling.  With games in hand on all teams around them most would say we will be fine but with tiredness likely to take its toll again and the team struggling of late to pick up wins, manager Richard Towers will be hoping for a few big performances from his players in the coming games to make sure we are not sweating on our Division 1 status come the end of the season.