Fleetwood boss Greenwood's national football accolade
Published Date:
29 August 2008
Fleetwood Town boss Tony Greenwood has received the Non-League Club Directory Manager of the Year 2008 award.
Greenwood joins a prestigious list of former winners from the world of non-league management such as Martin O'Neill, Steve Cotterill, Jan Molby and Nigel Clough.
He took charge of a North West Counties club in decline in March 2003.
Working with new chairman Andy Pilley, who arrived in February 2004, Greenwood soon turned things around in dramatic fashion, leading Fleetwood to a third place finish in his first full season.
That would have earned Town promotion had they not failed ground grading, but promotion to the UniBond League First Division as North West Counties Division One champions came in his second full campaign.
His third season in charge saw Greenwood lead Town to a second successive promotion, to the UniBond League Premier Division in 2005/06.
The UniBond League Cup final victory over Matlock in 2006/07 was his third piece of silverware in as many years, and the UniBond Premier title and promotion to the Blue Square North was added to Greenwood's list of honours in 2007/08.
Greenwood said: "My first reaction was surprise to be honest. It's good to be acknowledged with such names as Jan Molby, Martin O'Neill, Nigel Clough and the other former winners.
"It's the manager who receives the acclaim but I could write a long list of people who have also being part of the achievements at Fleetwood Town over recent years.
"My assistant manager, the chairman, vice chairman and one or two long serving players have all played a major role. We were all in it together.
"The fact we are one big team has been one reason for our success and that continued to be the case last term.
"I've won a few things in football, but last season's championship is up there with the best of them because of the way we won it.
"Everybody wrote us off after we were beaten in consecutive games at Gateshead and Worksop. We were something like 14 points behind at one stage.
"It was wrong to write us off because of the belief we had in ourselves. We just kept at it. Going top at the end of the season and then take promotion after the last game says a lot about the character at the club. We never gave up."
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Last Updated:
29 August 2008 10:26 AM
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Source:
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Location:
Preston