BROMYARD Town’s players would be ‘prepared to lie under a bus’ for manager Geoff Woodward.

That’s the view from secretary Tony Havefield who, says Woodward, has used his contacts shrewdly to bring in players from outside the town.

“Bromyard is a fairly small town and can’t provide us with the sort of footballers we want to play at this level, so we have to go out a little bit further,” said Haverfield.

“Geoff was with Worcester City and he tends to know the Worcester boys.

“Most of our team is from Worcester but we are a young side and we’re not going to win the league this year.

“But from a club point of view the next two or three years could be very interesting and very promising.

“The players love Geoff and they would all lie down under a bus for him. He’s a great manager and brings the best out of people.

“Geoff would love to have a budget to bring in players of a higher level but that’s never going to be the case at Bromyard. We don’t pay players – they get a bit of travelling money for petrol but that’s it. We cannot sustain a team paying them the sort of money that the bigger clubs are paying.”

Bromyard do not have a reserve or youth side this season but want to re-enter a side in the Midland Floodlit Youth League.

Haverfield explained: “Geoff and I were doing all the work for the youth team and there was someone due to come in but, at the last minute, he went elsewhere.

“Rather than overload ourselves with extra work, we thought we would shelve the youth team for the immediate future. We would like to bring it back. “Richie Smith is from the youth team. We would like to see some local lads playing under-18 football.”

Haverfield hopes Woodward will remain at the club for many years.

“I think he enjoys it here and he’s one of five directors who run the business side. I think he will be here for a while.”

The experienced Clive Harris is also helping Woodward.