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Ebbsfleet United owner Dr Abdulla Al-Humaidi admits big mistakes were made while Jamie Day was manager

Dr Abdulla Al-Humaidi with Ebbsfleet vice-chairman Peter Varney Picture: Andy Payton
Dr Abdulla Al-Humaidi with Ebbsfleet vice-chairman Peter Varney Picture: Andy Payton

Ebbsfleet owner Dr Abdulla Al-Humaidi has admitted lessons must be learned from the Jamie Day spending spree which led to last season ending in "disaster."

Following his appointment as manager in December, Day was given unlimited resources by Dr Al-Humaidi to strengthen his squad in the pursuit of promotion from Conference South.

In came Tom Bonner, Adam Cunnington, Matt Fish, Danny Kedwell, Kelvin Langmead, Stuart Lewis, Tyrone Marsh, Luke Rooney and Sean Shields from Football League clubs while Billy Bricknell, Anthony Cook and Daryl McMahon were among those who left.

But the Fleet dropped out of the play-off places and never got back in them, prompting their Kuwaiti chairman to sack Day last month.

Dr Al-Humaidi said: "There were mistakes on the playing side and we have to learn from them.

"In hindsight, we shouldn’t have changed the players as we did a couple of months ago. We should, as a board, have been more involved in having our say.

"Peter Varney told me it could go to both extremes. We could have managed to win most of our matches or it could have been a disaster – and it turned out to be a disaster.

Jamie Day was sacked by Ebbsfleet United in April Picture: Andy Payton
Jamie Day was sacked by Ebbsfleet United in April Picture: Andy Payton

"I was disappointed with the season. We did try to finish the season in the best place but that wasn’t the case. That was a disappointment and we have to learn from the mistakes of the past.

"There were mistakes on the playing side. Everything off the pitch seems to be going in the perfect direction so it’s just a matter of the playing squad and the football management part of the football club."

The board moved quickly to bring McMahon back to the club as manager, picking him ahead of more than 100 applicants for the job.

Dr Al-Humaidi said: "We don’t want the same mistakes with Daryl.

"He doesn’t want to make wholesale changes to the playing squad – he just wants a few changes – and that’s the best way to go forward."

Read the full interview in the Gravesend Messenger.

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