Chris Winton says his short time at Slough Town has been a 'whirlwind'

Since his arrival a month ago, Chris Winton’s time at Slough Town has been a ‘whirlwind’, though he's enjoying the role he's playing at a club that's progressing both on and off the field.

Winton joined Scott Davies’ backroom staff as as first team coach in June, following a spell as manager at Kings Langley and previously assistant manager at St Albans City.

So far, he has been able to have his say in Slough Town’s pre-season – guiding the young and senior players when Davies has taken to the field – and engage with the club’s new owners, the A23 group.

Speaking to the Express this week, Winton admitted he’s always ‘admired’ the Rebels and when the phone call came through asking him to join the club it didn’t take long for him to say yes.

New signing Gary Abisogun (above) hit the back of the net twice and Joe Dandy scored once as Slough Town beat Wingate & Finchley, 3-1, in a friendly on Tuesday night at Arbour Park.

The Rebels host Brentford’s B team tonight (Friday), a fixture agreed as part of the deal which saw Edon Pruti join the Premier League club last season.

“I’m really pleased with how things are going right now,” said Winton. “I have only been at the club for four weeks or so and it’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.

“Everyone is lovely, the club is a good one, a good-sized one. It’s always been a club I’ve admired so to get a call asking me to go there was thoroughly exciting.

“Pre-season has been good, and it’s slowly ramped up in difficulty. It’s been mainly about getting minutes into the boys’ legs though. Pre-season is a bit of an assessment period really to look at what the boys are capable of. I know quite a lot about some players, I know their strengths and weaknesses, but there are some lads I don’t know and it’s a real good period to observe what they are can do.

“The signings we have made, I have been very pleased with. They’re settling in well and I think that bodes well with the season coming up quite quickly. Each week that has gone on, we have seen more positives.

“I think it’s quite a unique situation having a player manager, but Scott has given me license to go and coach on the pitch and embed some ideas that I have run with as a coach, assistant manager, or manager before.

“I won’t divulge too much but I have been on the pitch numerous times now and slowly drip-fed things, tactical information Scott wants the boys to know about.

“We want the boys to have real clarity in what they are doing. I think they want that too, they don’t want things to be told one thing one minute and then told something completely different a minute later.

“It’s going to take time for every player to buy into our plan but we’re going to keep prioritising what we believe in and hopefully we’ll see some success.”

Asked if he believes the play-offs are achievable next season, Winton echoed the thoughts of Davies and assistant manager Tony Fontanelle, saying: “I think we’ve got to take things in incremental steps and not get too ahead of ourselves.

“I would like to think that by Christmas time, we’re well in with a shout of the play-offs. I missed out on the play-offs a couple of times with St Albans. I would like to get into there at some point in my career, maybe this will be the year with Slough Town.”

The Rebels have five more friendlies to play before their pre-season campaign is rounded off with a home game against Charlton Athletic’s u23s.

The National League South season gets underway on Saturday, August 5.