Saltdean United men’s 1st team manager Kieran Ridley has provided an update on his management team ahead of the 2025/26 season.
In sad news, assistant manager Issi Saumtally has made the decision to step down from his role. Stepping up to be assistant manager is Thai Beebee who will combine his role alongside playing, whilst Matt Woodward has taken on the role of first team coach.
Ridley was full of praise for his outgoing number 2. “Losing Issi is a big loss, not just from a football point of view but from a personal point of view too. The last two seasons have been tough, but having Issi alongside me for 18 months of that has been brilliant. We worked so well together and I know that despite the results, he’s enjoyed his time at the club and he will be missed, a lot. He did so much for the lads on the pitch, but he’s been an instrumental part of the culture shift at the club, and building a group who buy into what we do. I can’t thank him enough and have made it clear that whilst he cannot commit to a full season being involved, I fully expect to see him at some matches as he’ll always be welcome at Hill Park!”
Speaking of Thai and Matt, Ridley said he was excited by the changes. “I’m delighted Thai and Woody have accepted my offers to take up these roles. When Issi told me he couldn’t continue, I felt it was a really important decision to get right. I’d been talking with Thai about opportunities and I’m excited to work closer to him. He was my managers player of the season last season and at the time, I said he was proof that you didn’t need an armband to be a leader. He already takes a lot of responsibility within the group, and talks really well on match days so it was an easy one for me.”
“Woody is someone I wanted to get a little more involved in terms of the coaching side last season, but an opportunity to see the season out playing elsewhere presented itself and I didn’t want to stand in his way. But his value was proved to me when his season finished and he was back amongst the group at the end. He is popular with the lads and a good character to have around, so it was an obvious decision for me – as soon as he was able to commit to us, I wanted him involved.”
“Preparations are well underway for the new season, pre-season is all finalised, and we have our trial night on Thursday 12th which has no spaces left, so things are looking up. We know we need to be as organised as possible, and as fit as possible as we are going into a very competitive division next season.”
