A life ban from entering his own ground led to Jordan Stocks having to quit as Swallownest manager this week after three years in charge.
Stocks, who channelled his inner Ray Mears by risking life and limb to manage Swallownest in the FA Vase in September from the woodland behind the ground because of the ban, had been involved in a bizarre and long-running stand-off since August with the trustees of the Miners Welfare which owns the facility. Swallownest Football Club pay rent to use the facilities
Stocks claims he “urinated down a drain” after getting caught short during the height of the pandemic when certain parts of the building were out of bounds and he was on the premises on his own. He says he was then handed the most extreme punishment possible by the trustees who have candid camera footage of the offending moment.
“It is like they (the trustees) took a sledgehammer to crack a nut,” Stocks told Non League Yorkshire.
“It was during the first Covid wave so the Welfare and pubs were still restricted about opening and we were playing Jubilee Sports away (in a friendly) and one of my responsibilities as manager sometimes included washing and drying the kits.
“That morning I went to pick the kit up and I was able to get because I had a key. Obviously the Welfare building was shut so I had no access to that side of the facility. I opened the door to the laundry room which is literally a box room. I put the stuff outside the door and I needed the toilet. Now rather than me going into rooms which we were told not to go into because of Covid, I actually used the open drain that is linked to the toilet.
“There was nobody present. There was nobody at the Welfare or in the car park, bar me. One of the trustees has watched it all on CCTV.
“During my six years at the club there has always been little bits of misinterpretations between myself and the Welfare, not to a degree of being nasty. There’s been little isolated incidents where we have had mis-communications and situations have developed and we have had to work through it and we have worked through it.
“Then obviously the urinating situation has developed and they’ve not offered me the chance to explain it or a fair trial or hearing. They’ve thrown the book at me and banned me for life. I went to see one of the trustees on Friday to try and clarify the situation because I didn’t want to step down and I was trying to prepare a squad for the home game on the 19th December but he just said ‘you’re banned for life’.”
Deep down Stocks probably knew he was on borrowed time as Swallownest manager if the ban remained in place when the Toolstation NCEL season was originally scheduled to restart in January. The second lockdown had brought a glimmer of hope a ceasefire could be reached.
However, with no progress made and following the shock announcement last week of the NCEL returning before Christmas, Swallownest’s hand was forced as two home games were looming with their manager unable to attend.
“The planned approach from the football club was that we were always going to fight the ban because we felt it was so ridiculous,” he said.
“We hoped people would see that it was madness. We were going to reassess it in December and obviously the lockdown in November helped the situation because it relaxed us from having fixtures. We thought that by January 2nd we might have got it to a point where the ban was lifted.
“The December fixtures were put back on and I had exhausted all options (in terms of talking to the trustees). The football club said they didn’t want me to leave, but they presented to me that it was an untenable situation which it was and they said they felt the only option was for me to resign.
“I never actually offered my resignation but I agreed the decision was there to be taken. I agreed that for the benefit of the football club it was the right decision and I feel that (the football club committee) Wayne Coyle, Mick Kent and Richard Lill had no other option. I feel for them because they have done a fantastic job and they have done everything I have ever asked for.”
For many the stand-off has been well known. The NCEL helped Swallownest out by reversing a number of their early home games to away fixtures. ‘Nest’s only league home fixtures were the last two games before the second lockdown.
Swallownest had no choice to host their FA Vase tie with Ashton Town – the first competitive fixture of the 2020/21 campaign. Determined not to miss it, Stocks battled through nettles and barbed wire to take up a high up position to watch his men win 1-0.
“There was no way because of the hard work I had put into the side and the club that I was going to miss the FA Vase game,” he said.
“I went to the lengths of taking a step ladder and a bottle of water into the field next door and watched the game. There’s lots of trees, barbed wire and lots of thorny bushes.
“It was a long walk down the side of the pitch and there were a couple of openings I could use. I knew it was a public bridal path because I live that way so there was no stopping me accessing the field. It was just a bit uncomfortable and unprofessional. But that’s the lengths I went to to watch my football club that I loved.
“The players have always backed me and they do to this day. They know how crazy football can be and they thought it was a bit of a joke. The home support who know me were all shouting and taking pictures and it went all over Twitter.
“The opposition clocked onto it and they asked my assistant Lloyd (Gelsthorpe) ‘who’s that idiot behind the dugout’? Lloyd said ‘you won’t believe it but it is our gaffer’. One of their blokes came up to me and asked me the story and he couldn’t get his head round it. He said it was just mad the lengths people will go to to watch a football game.
“We’ve had a lot of away games since but some of our home league games have been night games. Because it is woodland it is not safe to be watching night games in that environment. I fell unlucky in that respect so Lloyd has taken charge of home games.”
Stocks leaves Swallownest with his head held high as he established them into a very competitive Division One outfit. The former Handsworth and Maltby Main player replaced sacked Lee Needham and Tom Hague during the club’s inaugural NCEL campaign in 2017 and constantly improved their fortunes.
“I think the best achievement was actually getting to the semi-final of the (2018/19) League Cup,” he said.
“We played a lot of teams higher than us. We played Maltby away, Thackley away and obviously beat them and got to Liversedge in the semi-final and we got beat 1-0 by a cross that looped over our goalkeeper.
“We also finished 11th, 10th and we were sitting ninth last season before Covid stopped everything. I felt with the players we had, because they are a talented bunch we could have had a good season when things restarted.”
The unsavoury nature of how his Swallownest reign has ended has not put Stocks, who has been “overwhelmed” by the messages he has received, wanting to manage again.
“I said to the club that I loved doing the job,” he said.
“I live close to it, my friends are there and a club in a higher league could have come for me and I wouldn’t have left. I did the job because I loved it and loved doing it for the community because it was part of my community. So I had a sense of achievement.
“I’ve come out of it with the response from people saying I’ve done a cracking job. I’ve been overwhelmed with the messages I’ve had in 24 hours. The phone has been crazy.
“I’m going to go again and I want the right job, the right place and I want it as soon as possible.
“I’m only 36 and I feel I have a lot to give. I want to be the best manager I can be and I want to enjoy it. As long as it is the right move, I am going to look to be involved in football as soon as possible.”
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