After the last league game against Alvechurch on Saturday, St Ives Town Football Club made a special presentation to manager Ricky Marheineke and goalkeeping coach, Paul Swannell to mark their 10th anniversary at the club.
Ricky joined the Ives as manager in 2014. Previously, he was manager of Huntingdon Town and with the support of Paul dragged the club off the bottom of Division One of the United Counties League to the very top of that division in one full season. In their first season in the Premier Division, the club finished fourth.
Midway through the following season Ricky decided to leave Huntingdon and move to Histon, leaving his assistant Seb Hayes to take control at Jubilee Park but Paul made the move with Ricky to join the Stutes.
The stay at Histon lasted until May 2014 when the pair decided to make the move to St Ives to take over the fantastic work of Jez Hall and Warren Everdell. They started their tenure with a solid ninth-place finish in the Southern League Division One Central. The second season was marked by a significant achievement, leading The Ives to earn promotion courtesy of a play-off victory against AFC Rushden & Diamonds.
This success saw the team advance to step three, where they have since maintained steady progress, highlighted by a 15th place finish in their first season at that level and finishing as runners-up in the League Challenge Cup Final.
The 2017/18 season proved challenging for Ricky and the team, but they rebounded strongly in the 2018/19 season, recording what was until this season the club’s most successful season to date by finishing 13th. This upward trajectory has been sustained and the club has remained in step three since and this season finished with a place in the top 10, the highest ever finish for the club at that level.
Ives Chairman Paul Reason said “With Ricky and Paul being with the club for ten years we felt it was important that we marked this milestone. Ricky is one of the longest serving managers at this level of football and the loyalty, dedication, and enthusiasm that both him and Paul have demonstrated over the years is second to none and has been pivotal to the club becoming an established step three team”.
To mark their 10 years at the club, the Ives Chairman along with Director Gary Clarke presented Ricky and Paul with a cake and some commemorative signed shirts from the current Ives squad.
