Alex Pike
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 29 March 1960 | ||
| Place of birth | Portsmouth, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 1985–1988 | Holt United (Assistant Manager) | ||
| 1988-1991 | Wimborne Town (Assistant Manager) | ||
| 1991–1993 | Wimborne Town | ||
| 1993–1995 | Bournemouth F.C. | ||
| 1996-2000 | Wimborne Town | ||
| 2000–2002 | Lymington (Co Manager) | ||
| 2002–2005 | Hamworthy United | ||
| 2005– | Gosport Borough | ||
Alex Pike (born March 29, 1960 in Portsmouth) is a non-league football manager, currently managing Gosport Borough of the Conference South.
Early career
Pike began his football management career in junior football in the early 1980s with Dorset Police reserves in the Bournemouth Football Association Wednesday League. At this time he also co-founded and managed M & J Security FC who gained entry to division 5 of the BFA Saturday League, winning the title at the first attempt. Before the new season began, the club was sold to a local night club owner who renamed the team Zig Zag FC. Promotions were achieved in the next 3 seasons to bring the club to BFA Saturday division 1.
The stellar nature of Pike's early foray into football management had not gone unnoticed and in 1985 he was appointed assistant manager to former AFC Bournemouth, Bristol Rovers and Yeovil Town player Chris Weller at Holt United in the Dorset Premier League.
At the end of the first season at Holt, Weller left to take over as manager of Wimborne Town, asking Pike to follow him, as his assistant, an offer which he declined, deciding to stay at Holt for the time being. Pike was offered the manager's job at Holt but did not feel ready to step into the role at the time and persuaded a friend, former Portsmouth, Plymouth Argyle and Exete Cityr player Nick Jennings to take the helm with Pike as his assistant.
Only 18 months after being appointed at Wimborne, Weller was sacked and the club offered Jennings the role, with Pike as his assistant.
The blueprint for success
In 1991-1992, his first full season as sole manager of Wimborne, Pike won the Wessex League title, the Dorset Senior Cup and FA Vase with a 5-3 victory over Guiseley at Wembley Stadium.[1] At the time, Pike was only 32, the youngest manager to win the FA Vase, a record which still stands today. In the two periods in which he managed Wimborne (1991-1993 & 1996-2000), Pike won the Wessex League title on 3 separate occasions.
In spite of being eligible, the board at Wimborne declined to apply for promotion to the Southern League, much to Pike's frustration, eventually leading to his resignation and move to AFC Lymington where the board were ambitious to advance to the Southern League. Pike was appointed as co-manager in 2000 with his close friend Graham Kemp. Despite reaching the 4th qualifying round of the FA Cup and finishing as runners-up in the Wessex League, the board decided to sack Kemp and offer Pike the position of manager on his own. Pike declined politely, as a matter of principal, but was immediately back in a job when he accepted the manager's role at Dorset Premier League Hamworthy United in the summer of 2002. Success is never far away for Pike and it came when Hamworthy won promotion to the Wessex League as Dorset Premier League champions in 2002-2003. Further silverware was added to the Hamworthy trophy cabinet when they won the Wessex League cup in their first season in the Wessex League.
Gosport Borough
In December of the 2005-06 season, Hamworthy were handily placed in 3rd position, Pike accepted an offer to take the vacant manager's job at Gosport Borough. Gosport Borough were lying in 10th position in the Wessex League on Pike's arrival, but by the end of the season, they had swapped positions with Hamworthy to finish in 3rd place. Pike guided Gosport to a first ever Wessex League title in the following (2006–07) season to become the league's all-time most successful manager.
A period of consolidation followed, with budgetary constraints giving Pike little scope for improving the playing staff in order to mount a serious challenge for promotion. In the 2011-12 season, however, the team finished in the play offs in 3rd place. Overcoming local rivals Sholing in the semi-final, they faced Poole Town in the play-off final at Tatnum Farm. Late in the game, Poole were leading 1-0 and on the brink of winning promotion, before veteran Steve Claridge stabbed home the equaliser from close range in injury time. Further goals from Claridge and Justin Bennett in extra time saw Gosport home to win promotion to the Southern League Premier Division for the first time since 1990.
Once again, consolidation seemed to be the order of the day, but Pike had other ideas. After an inauspicious start to the season, which put Gosport in the relegation zone, the club went on a 23 game unbeaten run, which saw them catapulted into the play-offs for the second year in succession. Gosport's 5th place finish meant they had to travel away for a mid-week evening semi-final to 2nd place Stourbridge. Gosport won 2-1 to give them an away play-off final at Hemel Hempstead. Gosport raced into a two goal lead before being pegged back by Hemel to force extra time. An extra time save by Boro keeper Nathan Ashmore maintained parity to take the tie to a penalty shoot out, which Gosport won, securing promotion to the Conference South for the first time in the club's history.
The 2013-14 season saw Gosport struggling to come to terms with life in the Conference South, finding it extremely difficult to accumulate points and spending much of the early part of the season in the bottom three, often at rock bottom. In the FA Trophy, however, wins over Dorchester Town and Concord Rangers began to restore a little confidence which showed in improved league performances. Further Trophy wins against Hungerford Town and Conference Premier team Nuneaton Borough again boosted confidence and belief and together with a couple of shrewd signings by Pike, Gosport suddenly appeared to be more than capable of facing the challenges ahead. The Trophy quarter final draw pitched Gosport against Conference North table toppers North Ferriby United. At the time, Gosport were languishing at the bottom of the Conference South table, but secured a place in the Trophy semi-final against local rivals Havant & Waterlooville.[2]
The first leg at Westleigh Park was punctuated with goals from Tim Sills for Gosport and Nic Ciardini for Havant to leave everything to play for in the second leg, in which Gosport ran out 2-0 winners with 2 goals from Sills.[3] In the league Gosport steadily climbed the table and produced a 12th place finish. In the FA Trophy final, Gosport lost 4-0 to Cambridge United of the Conference Premier.[4]
Awards and honours
| Year | Title | Awarded by |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Coach of the Year | The News (Portsmouth) |
| 2014 | Manager of the Month (November) | Conference South |
| 2014 | Coach of the Year (runner-up) | The News (Portsmouth) |
| 2014 | Cup run of the Season[5] | The National Game Awards |
References
- ↑ "Wimborne Town - F A Vase Winners 1992". The Non-League Paper.
- ↑ "South coast duo set for all-Hampshire FA Trophy Semi-Final −". The FA.
- ↑ "FA Trophy Semi-Final, second leg: Gosport 2:0 Havant & Waterlooville". The FA.
- ↑ "Donaldson at the double for Cambridge in FA Trophy Final". The FA.
- ↑ "National Game Award Winners". The Non-League Paper.
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