He'll be trying to win the Middlesex Senior Cup with Harrow Borough tomorrow – but keeping them already ranks s the biggest achievement of Steve Baker's career.
The former Hayes striker took over as manager at Earlsmead back in January, with Harrow Borough already staring down the barrel of relegation from the Ryman Premier and having seemingly accepted their fate.
However, a run of eight wins from their last 15 league games saw Baker guide Harrow to a comfortable 16 place finish, as well as leading them to two county cup finals (the Charity Cup final will be played later in the summer while a legal wrangle is sorted).
Baker said: “Although I've not been a manger for long, without a doubt this is the biggest achievement of my career. When I came in the board didn't put me under any pressure to keep up up, and and said my job would be safe if they saw signs of improvement.
“They were resigned to going down. There was a chance we could stay up, but the odds were stacked against us. I'm never comfortable talking about myself though. My assistants, Darron Wilkinson and Jesse Smith, deserve a lot of credit, as do the players who stayed.
“I wasn't particularly well known on the non-league circuit and had only managed at lower levels, so the club were taking a gamble, but I took a gamble too as I left another job for this one.
“I know some bigger names went for the job, and there were probably some Harrow fans wondering who on earth I was. I didn't even expect to get an interview, and there were some snide comments made at first.”
Those jeers have definitely turned to cheers now, and although he said when appointed that the cups meant nothing unless they stayed up, he admits he and the players can no relax and focus on landing some silverware.
He added: “Nothing has changed in respect of if we had gone down, tomorrow would mean nothing, but since we stayed up the whole place has been more relaxed.
“The fans have been fantastic, and it's a long time since Harrow have won any silverware, so it would be nice to give them some.
“It won't be easy though as Hanwell are a good side. Ray Duffy has done a great job there with no budget, and it's his last game in charge.”
The Middlesex Senior Cup final will take place at 3pm tomorrow (May 9) at Hampton & Richmond Borough FC.
