Boreham Wood Chairman Danny Hunter has said that the appointment Terry Harris as the club’s new assistant manager is a huge boost ahead of 2017/18 National League campaign.
The former Dagenham and Redbridge and Luton coach was officially unveiled as Wood’s assistant on Friday and has already spoken of his excitement to get started.
The Wood Army are looking to improve on an 11th placed finished last season and Hunter has explained why he believes that Harris is the man to assist Garrard and his men with this.
“I think that come the end of last season it was clear that we were perhaps slightly broken in terms of the dressing room,” Hunter admitted. “We had taken 22 points from the last 25 games and we made the decision not to offer Junior Lewis further employment.”
Having excelled with the reserves and the elite squad last season, Cameron Mawer was always top of the list for a promotion.
Mawer’s sides won the national double, produced three England internationals and sold the academy skipper to Sky Bet Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers.
However, as well as Mawer’s promotion to first-team coach, Hunter says that he felt that a more experienced head was also needed amongst the coaching staff, with Harris fitting that profile perfectly.
Hunter continued: “With Luke being the youngest manager in the top five divisions, it just seemed that the one thing we needed was a bit of knowhow, someone who had been there, seen it and done it.
“I have known Terry for the best part of 20 years and the one thing that he will bring to the club is a bit of honesty and integrity, he brings experience of not just football, but life.
“Terry has been a friend to this football club for many years, both himself and Dagenham manager John Still have done a lot of business with the club in terms of loans and players over the years, but it is now time for us to try and take on John and Dagenham on a level footing.
“From there, we see where it takes us, I believe that Terry is a huge gain for us and a huge loss for Dagenham.”
The appointment of such an experienced and respected coach has been seen as quite the steal for Boreham Wood, but Hunter quashed any suggestion that it was difficult to attract Harris to this side of Hertfordshire.
“I think the appeal for Terry, as much as anything, was that he will be coming here not just as the assistant manager, but he will also have an important role to play in our recruitment policy.
“He likes to get out there and watch players and watch teams and we want to encourage that and to encourage the relationship between him and Luke. We think that it could be a fantastic combination,” Hunter concluded.
