Laying down the Lawler as Joe takes sole charge of Tadley following Dillon’s departure
Tadley Calleva's Joe Lawler insists there won't be dramatic changes at the club following the departure of joint manager Ben Dillon.
Lawler will take over the role on his own following Dillon's decision to step down, citing work and family commitments.
The pair, who worked together at Hartley Wintney, guiding them to the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup, Badshot Lea and Cove, took over at Barlow's Park in October 2021, with the club rock bottom of the Combined Counties Premier Division North having amassed just two points from their first 10 games.
The management duo – who are close friends away from football – had an instant impact, steering the Tadders clear of danger and guiding them to a comfortable mid-table finish before leading them to an eighth placed finish in the Combined Counties Premier Division South last season.
And while Lawler – likeable, articulate and with previous experience of working on his own – admits he was disappointed that Dillon won't be alongside him in the dugout next term, he feels the pair's shared footballing philosophy means the upcoming campaign will be a continuation rather than a deviation from their plans for the club.
"The nice thing about mine and Ben's relationship is that we both see football in the same way," he said.
"In terms of the way we want to set up, the way we want to play and our ambitions for the team, not that much is going to change.
"Ben will be a miss, for sure, but I'm fairly confident in myself and also really confident in the backroom team that we've assembled as well.
"I'm relishing the opportunity and looking forward to the season to come."
Lawler and Dillon arrived at Tadley two years ago with a longer term project in mind, with both men focused on establishing solid foundations on and off the pitch and developing the club season on season.
With that in mind, the pair have always maintained a set of core principles and so Lawler is confident he won't need to do much differently, with the only changes he's focused on making being based on things he feels the club could have done better last term – changes he'd also have implemented had Dillon still been at the helm alongside him.
He said: "Like any manager, I want to make some minor adjustments to learn from the mistakes of last season, you can't just stand still.
"You have to take something from every season, we had some successes but we had some lows, notably after Christmas when we were a bit disappointed with our form.
"It's just looking at that and seeing what we can learn, we had a number of injuries and perhaps the squad was a little bit too thin.
"All the changes we make will be because we're looking to continue to improve, and that's something Ben and I have always tried to do."
Tadley have retained a strong core of last season's successful squad but have also said goodbye to a number of key players, with top scorer Ben Wright – who bagged 19 goals last term – taking a break from football, stalwart Scott Kinge and club captain Tom Walsh hanging up their boots and Jamie Johnston, so impressive last season, securing a move to Southern League side Wimborne.
With some of the side's more influential players and personalities moving on, Lawler has challenged his younger charges to step up and fill the void left by the departing quartet.
"We've managed to keep hold of about 90 per cent of last season's squad and we've added a few," he said.
"A lot of lads have turned down offers from elsewhere because they've brought into what we're trying to do.
"What's been really positive is that in pre-season I've already seen some of the younger lads stepping up, taking that bit more responsibility on and off the pitch.
"Although we have a number of younger players, a lot of them have already got some really good experience so we're quite unique in that sense and I've seen some new leaders emerge.
"We want to be a bit more youthful, energetic and dynamic, to be able to press teams and get on the front foot."
Tadley, who still have an experienced spine with the likes of goalkeeper Craig Atkinson, defenders Brad Neal, Andrew Charsley and Jordan Goater as well as midfielders Jack French and Alex Fragata, will play their first competitive game in just over a week's time, an FA Cup extra preliminary round clash with fellow Combined Counties outfit Alton on August 5.
And Lawler has covered every eventuality in preparation for the visit of the Brewers, squeezing in a final friendly – the visit of Badshot Lea, with the club opening their doors and offering free entry – on Tuesday evening.
After coming into last season a little undercooked having not played much football at Barlow's Park, Tadley lost their first two competitive games by an aggregate score of 11-4 and Lawler wants to make sure he avoids a repeat of their opening day 6-2 home defeat last term by getting enough match practice in on the Tadders home turf.
He said: "We've had a really good pre-season and we can't wait to get going now.
"We probably weren't quite prepared for that home FA Cup game last year, we hadn't used the home pitch but we haven't made that mistake this time.
"We're expecting a really competitive league, it's going to be very, very challenging and we're expecting a really hard challenge from Alton in the FA Cup.
"We're looking forward to testing ourselves and seeing where we are."
Tadley's Combined Counties campaign will begin the following Saturday, August 12, with a trip to Sheerwater – who finished 16th last term – and, while Lawler is anticipating a tough test from all the sides in the league, he's hopeful the Tadders can continue to build on the progress of the last two seasons.
"It's very difficult to say where we're looking to finish, but of course we'd like to improve on last season's eight placed finish," he said.
"Although we finished outside the play-offs, we beat two of the teams that finished above us home and away, so that showed we can mix it up towards the top end.
"We'll be looking to go as far as we can."
