While the worry lines on Premier League football bosses like Roy Hodgson, Slaven Bilic and Paul Clement seem to get longer by the day, Ian Wilce must be wondering what all the fuss and drama is about.

That’s because the Mushet and Coalway United boss has taken to football management rather like the North Gloucestershire League’s president Clive Wilkes took to refereeing back in the day.

Wilce is in his third season as the club’s manager and in that time has won two promotions. Throw in a couple of cup successes as well and it’s easy to see why the smiles have returned to the Forest of Dean club.

They are now competing in the Premier Division of the North Gloucestershire League and have made an impressive start to the campaign.

Ian Wilce will be the first to admit that it is no one-man show of course and he receives plenty of support from his brother Andy, who doubles up as the club’s secretary, and reserve team boss Jason Daw, who is also club treasurer.

“As well as the two promotions, we won the County Minor Cup North in 2015 /16 – that was some achievement – and last season we won the George Sandoe Cup,” said Andy.

“We’ve got a young side and they’ve grown up together. They’re getting their rewards now. It’s been a real team effort and most of our players are under 21. We’re quite a fit team.”

While clearly on an upward curve, the club still have some way to go to match the achievements of years gone by. At the start of the millennium the club were in Division Two of the Northern Senior League – Daw was first-team manager in those days – where they spent four years.

“Those four years were a bit of a struggle,” admitted 44-year-old Andy, who has been involved with the club since he was 18. “When we went down we had a pretty bad 10 years before things started to turn round for us,” he added.

And Andy has been involved in the game for long enough not to get carried away by the club’s current success.

“I don’t think we’ll win the Premier Division this season,” he said. “If we can finish in the top four or five that will be a good effort. We need to establish ourselves in this division. Obviously, we’d like to get back into the Northern Senior League but we don’t want to do things too quickly.

“It would be good to stabilise ourselves at this level for two or three years.”

Andy knows what he’s talking about, of course. After leaving what was then Laker’s School in the early 1990s, he has been involved with the football club ever since, just like Daw who was club secretary before Andy and, like Andy, joined when the club formed a reserve team.

Andy was a creative midfielder who could also play up front and on the wing before his playing career was cut short by a series of knee injuries.

He has been the club’s secretary for the past 20 years or so and works closely with his brother, who is two years older than him and was a defensive midfielder in yesteryear.

Ian spent much of his career playing alongside Andy but also had spells as a player with Staunton and Corse, Milkwall, Broadwell and Coleford before cutting his managerial teeth at Coleford for a couple of seasons.

He returned to Mushet and Coalway as player/manager of the reserve team before taking on the club’s flagship team.

Daw and the Wilce brothers are the driving force behind the club and are likely to remain so for many years to come, with the Daw name now being carried forward by 17-year-old Jack, who has broken into the first team on the left side of midfield or up front.

The likes of young Jack are very much the future of a club that have been in existence for the best part of 50 years. It’s a future that looks pretty secure too as they have a very long lease on Coalway recreation ground, which is the place they call home.

“We’re a typical grassroots football club,” said Andy, with some pride. “We’ve got old-fashioned changing rooms, old-fashioned showers… it’s not one of those modern buildings.”

And you just know that Andy wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The club are a big part of my life,” he said. “It takes up a lot of time but it’s very enjoyable. I still play the occasional game, I’ll referee some second team games if they haven’t got a ref and I help run the first team.”

And does big brother listen to him if he offers some advice on the touchline?

“Yes,” he chuckled, “he does listen to me and I listen to him as well!”

Mushet and Coalway United Football Club are clearly in very good hands.