Eastbourne Borough are excited to announce Nick Spiers as the new Head of Football Operations at Priory Lane.

Nick steps up from being the Club’s Welfare Officer and Youth Secretary, and will now oversee all matters to do with the Youth, Women & Girls Section.

He will also manage all administrative matters concerning the Under 18s and Under 19 Academy team.

And Spiers has already set out his plans for the youth section at the club.

“I want to build a youth section that aligns us more with a professional club, and makes us develop at the right pace – retain and attract new players.

“The ultimate goal will be each year to get two, three or four players in front of the men’s and women’s first team managers.

“We want to bridge the gap between the men’s and women’s first team, to get the management teams to come and look and be excited at what we have here.

“I want to make the youth section sustainable for the future. I want to create a football for all section, moving into an elite section and create a real pathway through the club and potentially into the first team.

“It’s a difficult task for any team to have youth section players come through into first team football, and we want to develop, retain and also attract the best talent in the local area.

“The only way we can attract a good player is to have a structured, disciplined youth section.

“We need to be working with the first team to set the DNA and the philosophy that the first team manager wants, so we can enforce that and push that down through the age groups.”

Spiers is no stranger to the local football landscape, and after doing a wide variety of roles in both senior and youth football will now be focussing on developing the youth structure at Eastbourne Borough.

He said: “I’ve been involved in football since I was a kid – I’ve played around the county, managed and coached in the County League, and then got into youth football.

“I coached numerous teams right the way through from Under 7 to Under 18, I’ve done a bit of everything.

“I managed a few age groups here, and then got more involved doing the admin and secretary side of things and helping out Terry in the office.

“I then picked up the welfare side of the youth section, and then took on the senior section role of Welfare Officer.

“Alongside my full-time job, which is based out of the US, I was still able to give time remotely to do things to help the club and I look forward to the new challenge ahead.”