Handley & Hussain looking to bring stability to Newent Town after fantastic start to the season
Newent Town Joint-Managers Luke Handley and Zaq Hussain say they are looking to bring stability to their side after an exciting start to the 2025/26 season.
The Daffs have won six of their first nine league matches – the amount of league wins they claimed throughout the whole of last season, and have claimed big wins in both Hellenic League Cups and advanced to the First Round proper of the FA Vase later this month.
Five wins out of five saw Handley and Hussain claim the Manager of the Month in our Team of the Month post for September and the duo join Butler on this weekend’s Buttee’s For Breakfast programme to talk about how the job came about and the start to the season.
On the show, former Worcester City and Raiders forward Hussain discusses how easy a decision it was for the duo to join Newent in the summer and the ambitions for this season and beyond.
“Once we had a chat about the management side of things, and because we know Newent, we know the people in Newent, the people involved with Newent, it was just the right thing to do, to be fair.
And once we’ve got the job, we kind of never look back and haven’t looked back yet,” said Hussain.
“Obviously, there’s no beating around the bush. If you look at Newent over the last few years, and especially last year, it’s not been great. Obviously, finishing second from bottom and whatnot.
But even when we went for the interview, we told the committee what we were about and what we would bring to the club in terms of passion, stability, everything that we knew that we could get. And then once we started meeting players and speaking to players, we told them our plan, the way we want to play, what we want to build.
If I’m honest, the club is ready for Step Five, Step Four, even, with the facilities and the people around the club,” added Hussain.
September say Newent win away at Thame United Reserves, before home wins against Woodford United in the league and Keynsham Town in the FA Vase – with big wins against UDA Gloucester Development and Wellington in Hellenic League cups to round off the month and heading into a massive October, Handley admits he isn’t too surprised at how well his side have started, albeit not expecting the results they have produced.
“I think both myself and Zaq, we’re not like glass half full type of people, we both work very hard,” said Handley.
“So when you work as hard as we do in terms of, you know, training sessions, the preparation, in a way, I’m not surprised if that makes sense.
But I didn’t expect it to go as well as it has. But I always like to say, we know what we bring.
We know how hard we work. So, yeah, it’s been nice to start as well as we have. But I’m not actually that surprised now,” added Handley.
October sees a home game against Wantage Town this weekend, before a trip to Cheltenham Saracens in the Hellenic League Challenge Cup and a home tie against Bewdley Town in the Floodlit Cup before a massive occasion in the form of a trip to Barnstaple Town in the FA Vase First Round.
A win could see Newent make the Second Round for the first time in their history, but regardless of the result, Handley has paid tribute to the club’s committee, who deserve a big day out.
“Like Zaq spoke about earlier, the people behind the scenes at the club, they deserve it more than anyone.
All the hard work, you know, Dennis, our chairman, Phil, our secretary, the hard work that they put in, the club deserve it.
And it’s definitely a day we’re looking forward to as managers. I mean, to take Newent as far as they’ve ever been is success in itself.
But if we were to get over the line and win in the next round, that would be just be the icing on the cake really,” said Handley.
During the interview on Saturday’s show, Butler asked Handley what a good season looks like for Newent from here and Handley reiterated the need to bring stability to the football club after a couple of tough seasons.
“A good season for Newent Town is what Zaq spoke about earlier on, stability. That was the biggest thing for us this season, stability, anything else is a bonus,” said Handley.
Newent Town host Wantage Town in Hellenic League Division One this Saturday, kick off at Wildsmith Meadow; 15:00
Listen to Luke Handley and Zaq Hussain talk about Newent Town’s start to the season, what they have learned in the role and looking ahead to the FA Vase game on 18 October on this weekend’s Buttee’s For Breakfast, live from 9am on Saturday Morning.
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