United's ambition matches mine, says new boss

The former Brighton & Hove Albion defender has left his role as assistant coach of Albion’s under-18 team to take over from Darren Hare, who resigned last weekend.

He said: “I’ve been thinking about my position at Brighton over the last few months and and was thinking I wanted to get back into management. But Brighton have just got into the Premier League so it had to be the right club I was going to go to.

“When I heard the position became available through Daren Burney (non-executive director at United) and Dean White (United’s academy manager), I went and met them and they sold the club to me.

“I knew of the potential at Hastings anyway and speaking to those guys as well convinced me this was the right move. I want to manage at the highest level I can and it’s a club that matched my ambition as a manager. It ticked a lot of boxes really and I’m delighted to be given the opportunity.”

Hinshelwood has been given a three-year contract at United, and will work on a full-time basis both as first team manager and in the Hastings United/Sussex Coast College Hastings football academy alongside the club’s coaching partner Skiltek Ltd.

“All the infrastructure’s in place with the academy and they want to bring the younger local players through, which is something I’ve done in the past at Worthing,” Hinshelwood continued. “If they’re good enough, I’ll give them the opportunity to develop their careers.

“Something that excited me about the role is that I would have that input in the academy as well, and to continue the great work that Ben (White), Dean and Aggy (Chris Agutter) have done there.”

After coming through the youth ranks at Albion, Hinshelwood went on to make 100 league appearances for Albion between 2002 and 2009, and received several England under-21 call-ups.

He later made 15 appearances for Aldershot Town and 13 for Wycombe Wanderers before a serious knee injury ended his playing career.

Hinshelwood, who had a fairly short spell as assistant manager at United several years ago, has managed Southern Combination Football League club Selsey and Ryman League outfit Worthing, where he gained an excellent reputation for developing young players. He became assistant to Albion under-18 coach Ian Buckman in summer 2015.

“I’ve missed that buzz you get on a Saturday afternoon and a Tuesday night a little bit, and I want that feeling back,” Hinshelwood went on. “I’m starting to get that feeling now with speaking to players and other managers to get pre-season games arranged.

“The last few days have been like a whirlwind, the phone’s been glued to my ear. It’s definitely given me the buzz back, and I can’t wait to get the group together and get them out on the training pitch. There’s a lot of work to be done before then, but I can’t wait to get started.”

United finished fifth in Ryman Football League Division One South during the 2016/17 season before being edged out on penalties by Dorking Wanderers in the play-off semi-finals.

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