Griffin: Peters and O'Brien have a 'great opportunity' to lead the Magpies

Aaron O’Brien and Ryan Peters

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Ryan Peters and Aaron O’Brien have been appointed on an interim basis to take Maidenhead United forward following Alan Devonshire’s resignation on Saturday.

The pair have been trusted to steady the ship as interim manager and assistant manager in the short term, but chairman Peter Griffin believes they have a wonderful opportunity to put their names in the frame for those positions in the long term.

He said they’re both excellent coaches who’ve learnt from the best in Devonshire - and from their roles in academies at Burchetts Green in O’Brien’s case and Brentford in Peters’ case.

The club are also 14th in the table after Tuesday’s magnificent 6-0 win over Salisbury, and looking up again with the pressure that appears to have been on the side in recent weeks now released.

“Our hopes this year were that we could potentially be a play-off team,” said Griffin.

“It’s a long season though and it could still happen. But the adjustments to this division are difficult.

“Anyone who was thinking we’d saunter to promotion in this division doesn’t know much about football or this division. It’s a tough old league.

“We’ve got a decent budget and squad, but we’ve underperformed.

“We know we have a squad that can do an awful lot better. That’s ultimately what we’ve got to do. We just have to get back on track. And by no means is this season over.

“Ryan (Peters) is going to take over on an interim basis and Aaron (O’Brien) is going to help him.

“They have learnt a lot from Dev over the years, and they’ve also learned a lot from their day jobs, Aaron at the academy at Burchetts Green and Ryan, from Brentford Academy where he still works full time. Brentford is a club we look up to in how they do all of their analytics and data analysis. Everything they do is data driven and that’s the way forward for us to.

“Everything moves forward, everything comes to an end, and we’ll enjoy the next two games with Dev and make the most of that. But then we’ll be looking to push ahead.

“There will be no sentimentality. We’ve got to grasp the mettle and really go for it this season. We’ll push on as always.”

United knew that Devonshire’s time as boss was coming to an end in the not-too-distant future. This season was always likely to be his last - with his contract up in the summer - and while his departure has come a little earlier than expected, Griffin feels the club is well prepared.

“Ryan and Aaron know they now have an excellent opportunity to impose themselves on the situation and show what they can do,” he said. “We’re not doing this because it’s the easy option or the quick option.

“We’ve known for a while that Dev was leaving. We didn’t know exactly when, but we knew it was coming to an end. We can’t speak highly enough of Ryan and Aaron.

“They are excellent, technical coaches and they have a lot of understanding, and they’ve learned from the best manager in non-league football for many a generation.

“They have got a great opportunity, and we’ll support them and back them completely but what happens in the future is what happens. But I’m not going to put pressure on them to say we have to do this or that.

“They have been appointed to steady the ship and get us going forwards again and I think they will because I know what they’re like. They’ll relish the opportunity and give it a real go and that’s what we’re focused on now.”