Paul Michael is a young man in a hurry and that can only be a good thing for Cinderford Town Football Club, their players and supporters.

The 31-year-old took charge of the club in November last year at a time when relegation from the Premier Division of the Southern League was already pretty much assured.

Performances and results did pick up after Michael’s arrival but not enough to stave off the inevitable and the one-time Risca United player/boss is now looking forward to putting his own stamp on the club as they prepare for life back in Division One South and West.

“Very much so,” he said. “We’d have needed a miracle to have stayed up last season and we were always looking at this season as the real start for us.

“What last year did give us was a bit of run-up to this season. We already had a core of players and we’ve added some quality players which has made us much more competitive. We’ll be much better than last season.

“We’re confident in the players we’ve got and we’ll definitely be looking for a place in the play-offs. It’s an exciting time for everyone at the club.”

Michael, who says his assistant Andrew Smith – “Everyone knows him as Smudge” – has a big part to play in any success the club may achieve, and cut his managerial teeth in South Wales which is where he is from.

“I was playing for Clevedon Town in the Southern League,” he told The Local Answer, “but when I was 24-25 I had to move closer to home for personal reasons so I took over as player-manager at Risca.”

It was a brave move because Risca were playing in Division Three of the Welsh League and at the time there seemed as much chance of them making progress as England winning the 2014 World Cup!

“They were second from bottom when I joined and they’d only stayed in the league that season on a legal appeal,” he said.

“But we stabilised the club, won back-to-back promotions and then established ourselves in Division One. It was a good grounding.”

It certainly was and it was an impressive enough CV for Cinderford chairman Stuart Tait to come calling at the end of last year following the departure of Chris Burns and Allan Gough.

The situation at Cinderford was even tougher than the one Michael inherited at Risca five years earlier but he has enough confidence in his own ability to believe that there will be many more ‘W’s’ on the club’s results page this time around.

The central midfielder played a couple of games for Cinderford when they were short of numbers last season but although he may still name himself on the substitutes’ bench on occasion the intention is for him to concentrate on managing the team.

So what type of manager is he?

“I wasn’t always as calm as I’d like to have been last season,” he admitted. “Things were difficult because we had so little time on the training pitch but this pre-season has been very organised and we’re in a much better place.

“For me it’s all about finding tactical solutions rather than screaming at the players. All players want to play well so it’s how we can help them to perform better.

“I’m a calm manager who thinks deeply about the game. We do a lot of video analysis, we prepare properly for every single session and we watch the opposition wherever possible. We plan for every game.”

So how much time does Michael, a teacher at Monmouth Comprehensive School and married to Beth with whom he has a three-year-old daughter, spend on football?

“Too much,” he laughed. “I’m always thinking about football, talking about football.”

And how far does he want to go into the game?

“I am ambitious,” he said. “I’ve just completed my UEFA A licence with the Football Association of Wales. Leon Britton, Jack Collison and Kevin Nolan were all on the same course and it was great to talk to these guys about what it’s like in full-time football.

“At some time in the future I’d love to get the chance to work in the full-time game.”