Manager Richard Lavery

Richard was appointed manager of the Poppies in February 2024 in succession to Jim Le Masurier.  It was a return to the club for ‘Lavs’ as he was the assistant manager to Marcus Law during the 2018-19 promotion winning campaign. He was known as formidable player throughout his career having played for Hinckley United (under former Poppies manager Dean Thomas), Nuneaton Borough, Corby Town, Barwell, Telford United and Coventry Sphinx. He was also the assistant manager at Hinckley and Nuneaton, before taking over as manager of Quorn AFC. He brought to the Poppies former coach Tom Cherry who was with him at Quorn. ‘Lavs’ had a difficult mandate joining the club who were floating around with the prospect of relegation.  But an upturn in results, with five consecutive wins turned the corner with safety achieved with 4 games remaining. The rebuilding for the 2024-25 season began in earnest.