Hinckley AFC Manager Joe Conneely says the United Counties Premier South this season will be “brilliant for local football.”
The league allocations announced yesterday saw Hinckley remain in the same division for 2025/26, but with the additions of derbies against Nuneaton Town, Atherstone Town and Rugby Town.
It means AFC will have eight league opponents next season based within 20 miles of Hinckley town centre, with newly-promoted Nuneaton offering the closest opposition.
And Conneely’s already looking forward to those derby matches in front of big crowds. He said: “It’s a tougher league, but will be a very good league with lots of money flying around.
“We’ve got big games to look forward to, with big crowds and big away followings coming to Kirkby Road which we didn’t really have last season. There are plenty of good grounds to go away to, and it’s one we can look forward to now and start planning.
“Big credit to Nuneaton for doing what they did, and Mitch (Thomson) has done a great job at Atherstone. I felt sick for them the way they lost their play-off semi-final, because I speak to him regularly.
“There’s been lots of noise recently about them coming in to this league so we expected it. They will be fantastic games, tasty ones, and we’ve got to make sure we get it right so we can compete.”
Hinckley’s matches against Nuneaton will be the first time the two new incarnations of the town’s clubs have faced each other – and will be the first meeting between the town’s two sides since New Year’s Day 2012.
Crowds of over 2,000 were a regular occurrence during Hinckley United and Nuneaton Borough’s Conference North derbies on Boxing Day, and Conneely would like another festive meeting this time.
“It would be brilliant to have them on Boxing Day wouldn’t it! It would be fantastic for both sets of fans. We knew Nuneaton wouldn’t be at step six for long, they have a big following home and away and it’ll be great for our club to get a big away following coming.”
Presentation night
The manager also discussed the winners at last week’s presentation evening – with Adam Barber earning Conneely’s Manager’s Player of the Year award as well as the Players’ Player.
After consulting with his backroom team, Conneely said Barber, who passed the 100-appearance milestone during the season, was a unanimous choice for their award.
“Barber’s been outstanding since the moment he walked in. We took our time with him but he’s shown this year how good he is. He’s the scorer of one of my favourite goals, in the League Cup final at the Bescot, but also got the first goal at step five in July.
“We had to get a bit of competition in for him around October because his levels had dropped slightly, but the moment we did that he stepped up again, and he and Leo forged a great relationship down the left. He’s a brilliant player, a brilliant lad and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do next season.”
The Supporters’ Player of the Year vote went to Jared Bradshaw. The diminutive midfielder signed from Nuneaton Griff in September, but went on to score 11 goals in 31 games.
“We thought we’d got Jared in the summer, but he stayed loyal to Nuneaton Griff and Arron (Cheshire, Griff manager). But when it got to September, we’d had a couple of poor results, I phoned him and said ‘enough’s enough, the seven days are in and I want you to come!’
He scores brilliant goals, he works so hard and he’s as loyal as they come. He deserves the award, and to win fans’ player is a big thing especially for a lad who missed the first two months of the season.”
The final winner from the playing squad was 17-year-old Oli Szymanski, who picked up the Supporters’ Young Player vote in his first season in senior football.
“Oli’s had a lot going on behind the scenes recently but he always turns up, trains hard, and he’s an honest lad who’s got a bright future in football. He needs more time with us but he had a really good year.
“He won’t be 18 until August this year, so he’s still a baby really. But he’s versatile, he filled in in various positions for us, and he’ll only get better as he matures and grows more.
“He’s had a brilliant first year for us and we’re looking forward to continuing to develop him.”
