A new boss has been named by Herne Bay chairman Matt Barman.

Experienced defender Liam Friend will replace James Collins at the Bay helm ahead of the 2025/26 season.

A club legend at Folkestone where he made almost 550 appearances under Neil Cugley, the role will be a first managerial position for the 37-year-old at Isthmian South East side Herne Bay. He first joined the Winch’s Field club in the summer of 2023.

Captain Friend had come close to taking his spot in the hot-seat as Steve Lovell departed in January.

And while he narrowly missed out to Collins on that occasion, he has got the job this summer.

“When Steve left, we went out to market, which I suppose is the right word for it,” said Barman, talking on a club podcast. “Being a club of our stature, we were inundated with applicants for the job. It was 70 or more, I believe it was.

“We delivered our best efforts to get that down to five. I understand everyone is on a journey and, with everyone that comes here, they come here for a little bit of their own journey.

Boss Collins on Bay exit

“Everyone that’s here is on their own journey and that’s one thing that I’m learning this year. Not everyone is the same, everyone sees things differently.

“In terms of the decisions we have to make as a board, or for me as a chairman, I’ll carry the can on anything like that.

“Have we made the decision that we think is right for the club? Not ‘Is it right for the club?’. Only time tells that. But ‘Is our intention and is our logic to pick the right candidate?’.

“We had six in. We sat and deliberated and [vice-chairman] John Bathurst, who has been interviewing people all of his life - or certainly all around his footballing career - I remember him saying they’re the six best we’ve ever had!

“James came in and, obviously, we have done a joint-statement. We won’t get dragged into that, but the fit just wasn’t quite right.

“I’ve got a lot of time for James. He’s an absolute gentleman. But we move on and we cannot dwell too much on that.

“We have looked at who’s in the market and what has changed, but the market isn’t going to change much, so we went back to our original five.

“One that was very close to getting it - there was just one or two little tweaks, and we’ve spoken about it - was Liam Friend. Obviously, I took the games for five games.

“He stepped up and because we were doing the interview process, if it had gone on for another couple of weeks, I think Liam would have been the automatic choice.

“He’s got absolute presence in the dressing room. He’s well-respected and what the club needs now is not a massive overhaul. It’s someone with that personality who knows those players that are going to come into the club and want to be at Herne Bay. There’s a massive difference between playing for Herne Bay and wanting to be at Herne Bay.

“I can give you the exclusive. He’s away on holiday, so there won’t be any photos and I’m not sure when this will go out, but Liam Friend will be our new manager, leading into 2025/26. Dan Tanner is going away from the dressing room and getting back on with his director of football role.

“Dan had stepped inside the dressing room with me. When James came in, the remit was ‘Let’s not go down!’. Whatever we do, let’s not go down.

“We finished nine points clear and, although it was a lowly position, it was ‘job done’ - and it was ‘job done’ for a couple of weeks before the end of the season.

“I think the 9-1 Lancing win almost tells you everything about us. Once we score, the shackles are off.

“The opposition side were just freezing a little bit.”

While Friend, also once of Margate, Ramsgate and Ashford, will not be hanging up his boots, ex-Lordswood boss Barman is keen to see him focus on being a manager rather than a player.

He said: “It’s a good time for Liam.

“I think we have agreed it’s going to be a manager-player role, not a player-manager. You don’t get many opportunities to take a Step 4 club as one of your first jobs.

“It’s a role that he needs to sort of put everything into because we’re such a big club and there’s all the dynamics of it. Those moments when things aren’t going well and you’re trying to work out what we need to change, for me, that’s best done on the bench and not while he’s engaging in his other roles.

“For me, he has been one of our best defenders. What he needs to do is identify - if he’s third or fourth on the bench - making sure that there’s a good two in front of him at the same time. Otherwise, that role is going to look weird, isn’t it? Our best defender, sitting on the bench!

“He’ll work with the guys we have got or he’ll look into the market. We have had a couple of brief chats about how he wants to push that forward.

“I’m sure he will tell you that once he gets going.”

On social media, Friend wrote: “Let’s get going.”