Alex Pike

Alex Pike

Alex Pike has been in the Gosport dugout since December 2005
Personal information
Date of birth	(1960-03-29) 29 March 1960
Place of birth	Portsmouth, England
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Teams managed
Years	Team
1985–1988	Holt United (Assistant Manager)
1988-1991	Wimborne Town (Assistant Manager)
1991–1993	Wimborne Town
1993–1995	Bournemouth F.C.
1996-2000	Wimborne Town
2000–2002	Lymington (Co Manager)
2002–2005	Hamworthy United
2005–	Gosport Borough

Alex Pike (born March 29, 1960 in Portsmouth) is a non-league football manager, currently managing Gosport Borough of the Conference South.

Early career

Pike began his football management career in junior football in the early 1980s with Dorset Police reserves in the Bournemouth Football Association Wednesday League. At this time he also co-founded and managed M&J Security FC who gained entry to division 5 of the BFA Saturday League, winning the title at the first attempt. Before the new season began, the club was sold to a local night club owner who renamed the team Zig Zag FC. Promotions were achieved in the next three seasons to bring the club to BFA Saturday Division 1.

The stellar nature of Pike's early foray into football management had not gone unnoticed and in 1985 he was appointed assistant manager to former AFC Bournemouth, Bristol Rovers and Yeovil Town player Chris Weller at Holt United in the Dorset Premier League.

At the end of the first season at Holt, Weller left to take over as manager of Wimborne Town, asking Pike to follow him as his assistant. Pike declined the offer, deciding to stay at Holt for the time being.

He was offered the manager's job at Holt but did not feel ready to step into the role at the time and persuaded a friend, former Portsmouth, Plymouth Argyle and Exete City player Nick Jennings to take the helm with Pike as his assistant.

Only 18 months after being appointed at Wimborne Town, Weller was sacked and the club offered Jennings the role, with Pike following him as his assistant.

The blueprint for success

In 1991-1992, his first full season as sole manager of Wimborne Town, Pike won the Wessex League title, the Dorset Senior Cup and FA Vase with a 5-3 victory over Guiseley at Wembley Stadium.^[1] At the time, Pike was only 32 and was the youngest manager to win the FA Vase - a record which still stands today. In the two periods in which he managed Wimborne (1991-1993 & 1996-2000), Pike won the Wessex League title on three separate occasions.

In spite of being eligible, the board at Wimborne declined to apply for promotion to the Southern League, much to Pike's frustration. This eventually lead to his resignation and a move to AFC Lymington where the board were ambitious to advance to the Southern League.

Pike was appointed as co-manager in 2000 with his close friend Graham Kemp. Despite reaching the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup and finishing as runners-up in the Wessex League, the board decided to sack Kemp and offer Pike the position of manager on his own. Pike declined politely as a matter of principal but was immediately back in a job when he accepted the manager's role at Dorset Premier League Hamworthy United in the summer of 2002.

Success was never far away for Pike and it came when Hamworthy won promotion to the Wessex League as Dorset Premier League champions in 2002-2003. Further silverware was added to the Hamworthy trophy cabinet when they won the Wessex League Cup in their first season in the Wessex League.

Gosport Borough

In December of the 2005-06 season when Hamworthy were handily placed in third in the Wessex League, Pike accepted an offer to take the vacant manager's job at Gosport Borough.

At the time, Gosport Borough were lying in 10th position in the Wessex League but by the end of the season they had swapped positions with Hamworthy to finish in third.

Pike guided Gosport to a first ever Wessex League title in the following season (2006–07) to become the league's all-time most successful manager.

A period of consolidation followed, with budgetary constraints giving Pike little scope for improving the playing staff in order to mount a serious challenge for promotion.

In the 2011-12 season, however, the team finished in third place and qualified for the play-offs. Overcoming local rivals Sholing in the semi-final, they faced Poole Town in the play-off final at Tatnum Farm. Late in the game, Poole were leading 1-0 and on the brink of promotion before veteran Steve Claridge stabbed home the equaliser from close range in injury time. Further goals from Claridge and Justin Bennett in extra time saw Gosport win promotion to the Southern League Premier Division for the first time since 1990.

Once again, consolidation seemed to be the order of the day but Pike had other ideas. After an inauspicious start to the season which put Gosport in the relegation zone, the club went on a 23-game unbeaten run which catapulted into the play-offs for the second year in succession.

Gosport's fifth-place finish meant they had to travel away for a mid-week evening semi-final to second place Stourbridge. Gosport won 2-1 to give them an away play-off final at Hemel Hempstead. Gosport raced into a two-goal lead before being pegged back by Hemel to force extra time. An extra time save by Boro' keeper Nathan Ashmore maintained parity to take the tie to a penalty shoot out which Gosport won, securing promotion to the Conference South for the first time in the club's history.

The 2013-14 season saw Gosport struggling to come to terms with life in the Conference South, finding it extremely difficult to accumulate points and spending much of the early part of the season in the bottom three - often rock bottom. In the FA Trophy, however, wins over Dorchester Town and Concord Rangers began to restore a little confidence which showed in improved league performances.

Further Trophy wins against Hungerford Town and Conference Premier team Nuneaton Borough again boosted confidence and belief and together with a couple of shrewd signings by Pike, Gosport suddenly appeared to be more than capable of facing the challenges ahead.

The Trophy quarter final draw pitched Gosport against Conference North table toppers North Ferriby United. At the time, Gosport were languishing at the bottom of the Conference South table but secured a place in the Trophy semi-final against local rivals Havant & Waterlooville.^[2] The first leg at Westleigh Park ended 1-1 leaving everything to play for in the second leg which Gosport ran out 2-0 winners.^[3]

In the league, Gosport steadily climbed the table and produced a 12th-place finish. In the FA Trophy final, Gosport lost 4-0 to Cambridge United of the Conference Premier.^[4]

The 2014-15 season saw Pike lead The Boro' to their first every FA Cup first round proper tie when Gosport hosted Colchester United in a game the Football League side won 6-3. The League campaign was a good one for Pike and his charges until a wobble in March dropped Gosport just outside the play-offs, eventually finishing sixth but lifting the Hampshire Senior Cup as a consolation.

Twelve months later, at the end of the 2015-16 campaign, Pike found himself questioning if he still had the stomach for the Privett Park helm after a torrid end to what initially was a good season. With Boro' in the play-off places from the get-go, confidence was high for Pike and the club but after financial problems hit the club in February/March, Pike found himself with minimal resources for the remaining weeks of the season and saw his team record only one win in their last ten league games.

However, after seriously questioning his future at Gosport Borough, Pike announced in May 2016 that he would remain at the helm at Privett Park and lead Gosport into 2016-17.

Awards and honours

References