Cowleys take charge of Colchester for first time at Swindon

The duo were yesterday appointed as the U’s new managerial team and take charge of their first game tomorrow when they take on Swindon Town.

The Cowleys have been out of football for a year since leaving their job at League One club Portsmouth and assistant boss Nicky cannot wait to get started.

He said: “We’re delighted to be back and we’re really looking forward to the challenge ahead.

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“We love our football and we miss it when we’re not involved.

“We also really enjoy helping the players and helping the football club.

“It’s always been a club we’ve really admired and it was great to speak to Robbie and Dmitri.

“We’ve also spent time with people behind the scenes and it’s always the best part, meeting the people that make the club work on a day-to-day basis.

“We’re really excited and looking forward to the journey ahead.”

The Cowleys took their first training session at Florence Park yesterday, ahead of the Swindon game.

They met the U’s squad for the first time and Nicky says they are looking forward to getting to know the players better, over the coming weeks.

The duo have already managed the likes of John Akinde, Tom Dallison and Jay Mingi, at their previous clubs.

“We’ve had a great time at the different clubs we’ve worked at and managed to get a lot of different experiences, in different situations and moments with teams,” said Nicky.

“But one thing we do know is working with players and helping individuals get better.

“We all know that if you help each individual get better then ultimately, the team benefits as well.

“We’re really excited about meeting all the players.

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“It’s a shame sometimes that when you do come in mid-season, you have to firstly talk about football earlier than you’d like because you’d like to get to know them individually as people first but it doesn’t always work like that, when you first come in.

“So, over the next few weeks, we’ll really look forward to getting to know them all on an individual basis because when once you actually get to know them as people and what their character is like, that’s when you can figure out how to help them and support them.

“We’ve found a great group of people and the way they’ve trained suggests that they want to do really well.

“Sometimes for us as coaches, it’s just about getting the right balance in terms of sending the right messages.

“I think not too many messages is very important, particularly when you’re going during the season.

“First and foremost, we really want to be a more compact team, a team that defends with real intensity and are aggressive in the way that we win the ball back because once we do get it back, then we can do the things with the ball that the supporters love to see and the players enjoy doing.”

The Cowleys have enjoyed a productive time in football management, so far.

They started working together when Danny was still a part-time manager and working as a PE teacher, securing three promotions in four years at Concord Rangers.

They then moved onto Braintree Town and have also enjoyed success at Lincoln City, Huddersfield Town and Portsmouth, prior to taking over at Colchester.

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Nicky said: “We’ve had a great time working together and we’ve been really fortunate to spend a lot of our working careers with each other.

“I think what’s really important for players and staff is that the right messages are sent and Danny and myself are very in line in the way we see our way of working.

“We’re really looking forward to working at the football club.

“There are so many fantastic things in place here and we’re looking to come in and add our personality and try to improve some of the areas where we feel we can definitely get some quick wins.”