Gavin Rose on clocking up 10 years in charge of Dulwich Hamlet: I knew we could grow the club

EXCLUSIVE
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Gavin Rose knew that Dulwich Hamlet were not living up to their potential when he became manager – but a decade on admits he didn’t dream the club would have come quite so far.

Rose and his assistant Junior Kadi clocked up 10 years at the helm last week.

Their start was low-key. A 0-0 draw at Folkestone Invicta was followed by a meagre crowd of 189 turning up for a home game against Leatherhead in the Isthmian League Division One South.

Rose’s side went on to claim that title in 2013 and beat Hendon in 2018 in a play-off final to clinch a National League South spot.

The Dulwich boss grew up in Peckham – he counts Rio Ferdinand as a close friend – and played for Hamlet. At one stage he lived across the road from Champion Hill.

Rose replaced Craig Edwards in 2009 but he and Kadi set up Aspire – the academy linked to Dulwich – in 2002.

“I said to the owner at the time, Nick McCormack, that I wasn’t sure what direction they wanted to go in but I think I can help the club,” recalled Rose. “We were already doing the academy, we felt we could help in terms of finances and progressing off the pitch.

“He had seen the work I had done at Beckenham Town and Fisher before that and was quite excited about us going in and having a go.

“We didn’t have many financial demands. We had a very small budget – smaller than the previous manager – but we just saw the upside of it all.

“Luckily enough we managed to get some decent performances out of the boys over the first two years and grew from there.”

Hamlet had crowds of more than 3,000 on four occasions in the second half of last season.

It is a huge surge when you consider even in their championship-winning season a lot of the crowds were less than 500.

“I used to watch the team and think ‘this is not a true reflection – it should be higher’,” said Rose.

“We felt if we could go about our work quietly and improve the club, on it and off it, then people would come. That’s what we have now. The growth of the club is a little bit more that what I dreamt, but the potential was always there to get it buzzing again.

“The growth has been really rapid in the last four or five years.”

So what has been the greatest highlight?

“When you have been here 10 years that’s pretty tough,” said Rose. “There have been many ups and we have had some special nights that I’ll always remember. But I would say the two promotions – I can’t separate them. With one we won the league – that’s pretty special – but there is something about going up in the play-offs as well. They were both done with the last kicks of the season.”

As Dulwich have become bigger hitters in non-league, the expectation for success has grown too.

Rose agreed a new three-year deal in the summer.

He has been in the Dulwich dugout for 574 matches.

“For any manager you would feel pressure because you have got a lot of people expecting or hoping for a positive result,” said Rose. “That carries weight no matter if we are talking about thousands of fans or a few hundred.

“I decided years ago not to worry too much about outside pressure and only worry about my own, because I tend to put more pressure on myself than anybody else could. Junior is the same – we have our own standards we look to keep.”

Kadi has stayed in the background during Dulwich’s success.

“There’s many times that we finish off each other’s sentences,” said Rose. “We know a lot of what the other is thinking.

“We were friends before – socially and playing football both on the same side and against each other. We set up the academy prior to starting a management team. We’d managed at Beckenham.

“It wasn’t like we just started at Dulwich. We had quite an established relationship. He is more a family friend now – our two families know each other very well.”

So could Kadi want a crack at being a boss in his own right in the future and breaking up a combination which has worked so effectively?

“Possibly,” said Rose. “You can never say no.

“I think Junior isn’t really outwardly a confrontational person. He’d probably say he doesn’t want all the pressure on him, but he is happy to help and assist.

“It just depends if that changed in him as to whether he would ever do that. We’re the sort of people who want the best for each other. There would be no grudge either way if one of us had to move on. We’d wish the best for each other.”

Rose’s longevity outstrips anyone in the professional game – Morecambe’s Jim Bentley having eight years under his belt. Non-league is harder to find those states, although Neil Cugley is in his 23rd season as Folkestone Invicta boss.

Is there a chance that Rose could do another decade with Dulwich?

“Yeah, but we would have to keep progressing the club,” he responds. “That is the first thing. We wouldn’t be able to stand still for 10 years because everyone would get pretty bored if we were at the same level every year!

“The club would need to have the capabilities and facilities to keep progressing – there is no reason we couldn’t grow it collectively off the field, management team and supporters.

“If you can grow your local club it doesn’t get much better.”

Rose and Kadi also derive huge satisfaction from providing a support base for young players to get their careers back on track.

Erhun Oztumer joined Charlton Athletic last week.

But it was the pint-sized playmaker’s displays in pink and blue that earned him a return to the professional game at Peterborough United.

Reise Allassani and Nathan Ferguson are more recent restoration cases. Crystal Palace took Michael Chambers and Quade Taylor, although both eventually returned to non-league.

“I’m not great at remembering how many have gone back into the professional game,” said Rose.

“There have also been lads who have left the academy and directly gone straight on.

“If we can create a platform for young talent to come in and build themselves up and have a chance in a professional environment – to do what they love – I don’t think there is anymore we can do for them.

“It’s great to help these guys along the way but we always remember it is them who have done the hard yards. The sacrifices is what makes them different from the group.

“To be at your local team for 10 years is quite special. We can definitely be very proud and happy that we have been able to manage so many players.”

PICTURES BY KEITH GILLARD