• Timms aims to make it easier for youth team players to move up to the senior squad

• Plan is part of long-term thinking to grow the club in Ashby

• Club's 'mini-motto' is that players should be the best they can be

• First team manager Gray works alongside Timms despite being on-field rivals as players

• Youth team players are already getting first team experience in Midland League football

Ashby Ivanhoe's Head of Player Recruitment Gary Timms says he aims to create a 'pathway to the senior team' for the club's young players.

Timms was appointed to oversee their progress so they can move seamlessly to first team football - as some have done already.

The plan is part of the long-term thinking to grow the Midlands League club in years to come - and take advantage of Ashby as an expanding town.

Timms has long-standing connections with both Ivanhoe chairman Stuart Bonser and first team manager Andy Gray - who used to be a rival opponent two decades ago, but are now working side by side to build the Lower Packington Road-based club.

And Timms told Ashby Nub News about Ivanhoe's future plans and how he came to be at the club.

"I moved to Moira three years ago and came down to watch a game of football, I saw Stuart and recognised him from Ibstock town when I was there," he said.

"I hadn't had anything to do with football for a little while, but I liked it down at Ashby, I liked what everybody was doing, it's really positive and the people here are professional at what they do, they work hard and they love the football club.

"I met the youth team managers last month, but I was even looking for something that I didn't like to stop me getting involved, if that makes sense!

"But the more I saw, the more I liked. And Stuart asked me to come and get involved.

"He wants to create a pathway for the youth team to come to senior football.

"That period where you go from youth to senior in any sport, the minute you start dealing with seniors, it becomes a difficult place, probably the toughest time of your life.

"But we want to make it easy to get these players incorporated into the senior section.

"We want to create an environment from the beginning of youth team football where these lads can be the best they want to be, and that's like a mini slogan.

"It's creating an environment where they want to eventually play for Ashby Ivanhoe seniors.

"And when they come and get involved, it's as easy for them to step up. That's what I'm trying to do."

Timms says there is plenty to build on at the club because of the progress that has been made already.

"I've met the youth team coaches, it's in its infancy, but we've got things planned like a master classes. We can get these things set up where we invite five or six people down to work with the players, and we already have identified players who are 16 or 17, three of them are 16 and they've played in the first team already, they all come from the youth section," he added.

"If we put our minds to it then more can do that."

Timms has a background in Leicestershire football with Ibstock, Stoney Stanton and Huncote and knows his role is very different from when he was a player.

"I've been around football a long time, but players are a bit selfish, you never seem to look around at what is happening," he said.

"Further up you go the harder it gets. What made it for me with that Andy Gray was appointed as manager.

"But the funny thing is when are used to play against Andy, we used to hate each other, Because I was from Stanton and he was from Shilton, we used to kick bits out of each other. We didn't like each other at all.

"But now I'm fully supportive of him, and I love what he doing, I think we've got a really good manager. But he said to me you wouldn't of thought this 20 years ago,, Because I was from Stanton and he was from Eatl Shilton, we used to kick bits out of each other. We didn't like each other at all!

"But now I'm fully supportive of him, and I love what he does, I think we've got a really good manager.

"He said to me: "You wouldn't have thought this 20-odd years ago".

"We never really got to know each other because of the rivalry, they never came in our pub, we never went in theirs.

"We had the wrong opinion of each other.

"When I met him here we had a chat, we got on well and now I love it down here."

Timms says the club can get bigger along with the size of the town - which means potentially getting more people through the gates on matchday.

"When you look at the town of Ashby, I think it's something we can really turn on," he added.

"For example, there's two guys I play golf with, one is John Owen who was a successful manager of Tiverton Town and took them to Wembley in the FA vase, but he lives in Ashby.

"He said he'd never been down to Ivanhoe, in all the years he lived here, he didn't even know the club was here. He came down here and he loved it.

"I spoke to another bloke and he just said he thought there was nothing but a shed and a load of sheep down here, but he hadn't been there for 10 years.

"So how many more people don't know what's down here? There's a decent standard of football and if another 30 or 40 people come along, that's a start."