On Tuesday, 24 June 2025, a fascinating hour long interview appeared on YouTube, where Sian Marie sat down with Tony Russell. It was a revealing discussion in which Tony openly admitted he failed at Lewes FC. I agree with him, but it’s not quite as simple as that.
At the beginning of his second season, in an email exchange with Stuart Fuller, I expressed my hope and expectation that after a brilliant first year—moving from the foot of the table towards the top, momentum alone should have delivered promotion or at least a play-off challenge. That didn’t happen, and in my view, Tony should have been relieved of his duties at the end of season two. With a large budget still available, someone else deserved the chance to finish the job. But it’s a lot more complicated than that.
Football is relative; it means different things to different people. When I started going regularly to the Pan 25 years ago, watching the Rooks was mainly about drinking, having a sing, and generally enjoying myself. A win was great, but to tell the truth, the results were immaterial. Now, in my 50s, how we play and the results matter a lot more, and I save the general merriment until after the game.
Tony freely admits he had a squad good enough for promotion and, therefore, accepts that he ultimately failed. But what he didn’t fail to do was produce an outstanding spectacle, way beyond expectation. The scintillating high press meant we got a real hit or miss team, but when it hit, it was better than anything Steve King ever produced. When I say he failed, it is because, in my opinion, his main failing was having no plan B, and that is pretty important. Too many games were lost when a touch of pragmatism would have seen them out. Ultimately, though, not everyone cared, it’s the taking part that counts and the quality of the product not necessarily the end result.
Tony Russell’s tenure at Lewes was defined by a bold commitment to expansive, high pressing football, an approach that won admirers but ultimately fell short when it mattered most. Week after week, the team played with a conviction that they could dominate every opponent by sheer attacking intent. Yet while this philosophy produced thrilling performances and plenty of goals, it too often left us wide open in the crucial closing stages of matches.
A more pragmatic manager might have recognised when to temper the press and protect slender leads. Time and again, Lewes conceded late equalisers or winners simply because the players were exhausted from relentless running and lacked the numbers behind the ball to cope with direct counters. Instead of adjusting the shape or introducing extra defensive cover, Russell’s side persisted with the same aggressive posture, believing they could always outscore the opposition.
That refusal to compromise, even briefly, whilst perhaps admirable, meant points slipped away in situations where better game management should have prevailed. In a fiercely competitive league where margins are thin, the absence of tactical flexibility became a fatal flaw. We didn’t lose out on promotion because we were outclassed, but because we were out thought in the finer details of closing games down.
If you’re happily treading water, perhaps that’s okay. But a successful manager would have got Lewes promoted or at least into the play-offs with the budget he had. So I don’t get bollocked by Stuart again, let’s just say his cup record was “patchy” too. The importance of this is that I never had any confidence that, under the pressure of a knockout play-off competition, we had the backbone to see it through.
As an aside, and a contentious thought. Tony has previously intimated that the FENIX Trophy was a struggle mentally and physically for his squad. I think it could have been a catastrophic mistake. Arguable of course. Chasing headlines and publicity grabs as ever, did those four extra games and two long journeys take the edge off a possible play-off spot, lose our momentum? Hoisted by our own vanity, perhaps, it could well have cost us promotion. If we had got promoted, that old chestnut about having “no money to fund a tier six team” is, frankly, bollocks. Listen to the interview and what’s clear is that a backs to the wall season would have suited Tony Russell just fine, as he’s previously gained promotion with the smallest budget in the league. So, to be fair, we should temper criticism of him in season three.
Back to the interview:
The interview itself was slightly marred by Sian and Tony talking over each other, but the content was fascinating. There was a slightly embarrassing moment when it became clear Sian wasn’t aware of our, for non-league, fairly famous European exploits.
It offered really great insight into his history, but more importantly, into his thinking about football. A man of integrity and honesty, at Erith, VCD Athletic, and Cray Wanderers he had firmly built a reputation for attacking football and overachieving on limited resources, earning promotions at all three clubs. His appointment at Lewes was a savvy one.
It was strange that in an hour-long interview no mention was made of his time after Lewes, at Margate, where he left almost immediately. Was that an out of bounds subject? For the record, it seems Tony Russell’s swift exit from Ramsgate FC was the result of early misunderstandings about contractual agreements, leading him to conclude that it was best to part ways amicably before the season commenced.
A passionate man, on reflection I’d say there are parallels in how the CEO, Maggie Murphy, approached things and also ultimately failed. All the money and resources allocated to endless “impact statements”, and other pointless exercises of posture, it’s almost as if both Maggie and Tony were running their own parts of the club according to principles and sports science at a level where either it simply doesn’t work, or they weren’t capable of overseeing the tasks in hand correctly. Instinct and reacting to the hand you’re dealt rather than micro-management can sometimes be the difference.
It begs the question of who was ultimately responsible for a bloody good manager underachieving for two of his three seasons. Because if that was my club, I’d have told Tony to change his style. Was it a case of, as he alludes to, the board being too focused on the women’s team? Or the board not wanting to demand change, knowing Tony is his own man and would simply leave if pressured?
What’s quite clear is that apart from Stuart Fuller and John Peel, hardly any directors seemed to have much interest in the men’s first team. Tony strikes me as a very talented manager who needed better support so he could focus fully on the task in hand. From my time in management, I can vouch for how easy it is to get blown off course by day-to-day distractions and lose your way. It’s clear the board should have spent less time swanking over their publicity grabs and egos and focused more on supporting Tony Russell so he could concentrate on playing and winning football matches.
He certainly felt let down that the crucial customary pre-season drafting of players was delayed by between two and four weeks while the board faffed around like headless chickens trying to work out budgets. That delay affected his pre-season signings, and this criticism is valid.
But ultimately, taking all the credit for the rise in attendances—claiming they grew from 350 to 1,000, wasn’t correct. The average attendance increased more like 600–650, not 350 to 1,000. At the end of the day, surely some credit must go to the huge marketing campaign during his tenure for bringing in a sizable chunk of new attendees, especially since the vast growth in women attending men’s matches is entirely down to Lewes FC Women. So when he says he was miffed that budgets fell as attendances rose, that’s a bit unfounded and unfair on the board.
My own view is that the timing was, ironically, all wrong. If he were appointed this season, it would be a brilliant move, smaller budget, less expectation, perfectly suited to his strengths. He says he was offered a lucrative job after year two at Lewes and suggests Stuart told him to take it. Maybe he should have listened. I would certainly have replaced him after two seasons.
Tony comes across in the interview as a “my way or no way” kind of manager. To be fair, he’s also clearly very protective of his players, which is commendable. I did find it frustrating, though, when last season he took to social media to criticise fans for their comments about poor performances. In my view, those remarks from supporters were reasonable enough and simply part of football, we pay the wages, and many of us are club owners. It’s football culture. In his defence, he was obviously worn down and frustrated by that point. But when you consider he has now walked away from two clubs, for whatever reasons, and had moments of tension with the fanbase, it does raise the question of whether he finds it difficult to bend a little when circumstances demand it. That capacity to adapt is often one of the most important qualities in successful management.
His legacy may well be that he failed, and I stress that is not everybody’s view, but perhaps he was also the most important manager in our history. He found Ollie Tanner and negotiated the 30% windfall due to Lewes if. and probably when, he leaves Cardiff for the mooted £3 million fee. That may yet be the bedrock for keeping Lewes FC financially safe and provide a platform to build on.
A lack of support from the board and the distraction of the FENIX Trophy may well have hindered promotion, but ultimately I believe it was Tony’s lack of pragmatism and a plan B that caused him to fall short.
Paradoxically, Tony Russell failed in his aims and expectations, but he was nevertheless a fantastic manager for Lewes FC. At a time when the board were turning the club into a circus, he produced a fantastic brand of football and brought some sanity to the proceedings. I’d have him back any day.
#Lewes FC #Tony Russell #Non League Football #Football Management #Fenix Trophy
The Rights of Fans. 