Garry Haylock is feeling right at home after returning to Hayes & Yeading United as manager.
Haylock became the club’s first manager following the merger between the two clubs in 2007 and he now succeeds Tristan Lewis at the helm following his decision to step down from the role last week.
He oversaw promotion to the non-league top flight via the play-offs in 2009 and spent two years in the Conference Premier with the club before departing in May 2011.
A chance phone call to chairman Tony O’Driscoll about another matter threw up the chance to take back the reins and Haylock could not resist the lure of the Vanarama National League South outfit.
His first game back in charge saw some of the old grit back in the side as United played out a goalless draw with Gosport to pick up a point at Maidenhead’s York Road.
United hope to be playing back at Beaconsfield Road, where Haylock used to boss Yeading before the merger, by the end of the season to end years of groundsharing since his original departure.
Pulling back up at his old stomping ground for training was a real blast from the past and the returning Hayes & Yeading boss feels his story is starting to come together nicely.
He said: “Driving to training again for the first time was weird because I first watched us train there in December 2006.
“Getting back in there would obviously eliminate the cost of having to pay to play our games elsewhere and hopefully that money saved would give us a bit of a boost.
“I quite like the idea of being there at the start and at the end of the journey to get the club home.
“I felt like I was walking back into my old house. I’m very excited.
“Adam Everitt, who was captain for me at Yeading, was sitting in the dressing room when I got there and I’ve known him from the beginning so there was a neat book-end to the whole thing.”
Haylock has been working most recently as a match analyst for Exeter City and last season took up the role of first-team coach with the Grecians and the United manager intends to remain with the Devon side in some capacity.
He said: “It’s a work in progress. I didn’t want to leave them in the lurch because the job that I’ve been doing is going to have to be filled.
“We’ll see how things go in the short-term.
“It would be great to have that connection with them and I’d like to think we’d be first in line for any players they were looking to send out on loan.”
