Chris Agutter has wasted no time setting out his vision for Sutton United.
The club’s new Head Coach, confirmed yestreday, says he is “delighted and excited” to take charge — and has promised supporters a team that plays with ambition, energy and style.
The former Worthing manager arrives off the back of an impressive campaign with the Rebels, guiding them to a club-record points tally and a dramatic push for promotion. For Agutter, Sutton represents the perfect next step.
“I’m excited. Delighted for it all to be confirmed and really looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge ahead.”
“It’s a Football League club, and there’s an ambition and there’s a drive to get back to that level at least. So for me as a manager, it’s equally as ambitious. Again, the staff that we’re bringing with us as well, we all want to work at the best level possible.
“Obviously, I worked in the Football League at Stevenage as an assistant manager on an interim basis, as a first-team coach on an interim basis, and I want to get back there as a manager. I know my ambitions and beliefs are aligned with the football club, so where better to try and get there?”
A long-awaited decision indeed, the Head Coach position at Sutton had remained vacant for a couple of weeks as the club ensured they filled it with the right person, and got their wish at long last via significant investment in order to release Agutter from his contract at Worthing.
“I had a conversation with the club’s board, spoke at length about my approach, my style,, myself and the coaching team that I’m obviously looking to bring to Sutton, what we can bring to the table.”
“It was an incredibly thorough process. It was no stone unturned really and ultimately from both sides of the coin, certainly was from my side of things, it only confirmed that it was a great opportunity and if I was the right man for the job, it’s one that I’d want to take.”
Agutter is no stranger to the EFL, having previously worked with Stevenage as both assistant and first-team coach. That taste of life at a higher level, he admits, left him determined to return as a manager.
“You get a degree of confidence because obviously everyone goes into a new environment and a higher level and there’s always a feeling of am I good enough? That imposter syndrome that we all feel.”
“So when you get in there and you’re working with good players and working with excellent coaches and you realise you’re not a million miles off it, that obviously gives you a degree of confidence.”
“The main thing I took from it was a real appetite to get back there. It was a brilliant brilliant period for for myself and both on and off the pitch. Met some incredibly impressive people, some lifelong friends as well. So, yeah, it was a really good period for me, both on the football level and personally.”
This, Agutter’s ambitions for Sutton are clear, and while he is eager to implement his own ideas at Sutton, he has also recognised the solid platform already in place.
“I think I’ll be able to have a degree of impact on and influence on what it looks like off the pitch, but to be honest, as I said it’s as I’ve come in here on my first day, It’s a League Two football club, at least.”
“They got there for a reason under a brilliant manager, Matt Gray, who’d done a fantastic job, and you can see a lot of the work that he put in both on and off the pitch is obviously still incredibly strong. So for me, it’s just a case of building on it, and as I said, trying to help the club get back to where it needs to be.”
Looking ahead to a quick turnaround, Agutter is set to take charge of his first game in charge with a trip to Braintree Town on Saturday, and as a result, he took charge of his first training session to get an immediate sense of what he has to work with.
“The quality of player, the work ethic, the appetite to run, chase, press – it gives us a hell of a platform to build an exciting, attacking team,” Agutter explained. “It’s been a whirlwind – meeting players, staff, answering a million messages – but it’s only made me more enthusiastic about the challenge ahead.”
“Obviously, there’ll be differences in levels, but in terms of the profile of player, it is very similar from a physical perspective and in terms of roles and responsibilities and the players in terms of their positions, it is ahead of a lot of crossover, which, as I said, I can imagine played a huge part of me being offered the job.”
When asked to describe what a Chris Agutter side will look like, his answer left little doubt and it’s a philosophy that has underpinned his coaching career to date, and one that Sutton fans can expect to see from the off.
“We’ll attack and we’ll attack and we’ll attack some more. That’s the attitude.”
“On the ball, in possession, every opportunity we get we’ll try and, as obvious as it sounds, we’ll try and put the ball in the back of the net. We won’t be passive, we’ll be aggressive, we’ll be front foot.”
“If we can play forwards, we’ll play forwards. If we need to play a few extra passes to work that opportunity, then we’ll do that, and equally, from a defensive perspective, out of possession, we’ll also attack the opposition.”
“We want to get the ball back quickly. We want to be on the front foot. We want to press teams. Ultimately, we want to have the football because I believe that’s the best way to win games. That’s sort of the long and the short of it. And equally, it’s an entertainment business. I want the supporters to enjoy watching their team. They pay good money – let’s entertain them.”
Sutton’s struggles this season are well documented, but Agutter believes there is plenty of time to turn things around.
“It’s October – there’s plenty of points to play for.”
“I’ve been in this situation twice before with two previous clubs, and ultimately, I think it’s about getting the process right, getting the performance levels right, getting our ideas across, making sure the work ethic is there, which it clearly is, and it has been prior to me being here.”
“Ultimately, if we get the process right, then the performances will be more positive and then history tells me with the way that we play, results will come, so it’s very much about performance – focus on that, control what we can control.”
“Obviously appreciate what the opposition are doing, but ultimately can we do what we do and what we want to do incredibly well. And off the back of that, that’ll give us a hell of a chance to put plenty of points on the board.”
Above all, the new boss is keen to create a connection between his team and the supporters, especially as he prepares for his first game in charge against Braintree Town, with Agutter setting the tone for what’s to come: attacking intent, energy in abundance, and a side that wears its ambition proudly.
“Ultimately, that’s what we’re doing it for.”
“Obviously, we all love football, we’re all passionate about it. It’s why we’re in it, we all want to be successful. And for me, one of the biggest drivers in terms of climbing the football pyramid is you want to play in front of decent crowds and massive fan bases, and you want to have the feeling of all the emotion that comes with it.”
“So for me, first and foremost, I want to play a type of football that the Sutton supporters can get behind and get excited by, something that they can connect with, and then in turn, if we can energise them, which is our responsibility, I have no doubt they will help energise the team and together we can very quickly put some really decent performances together on the pitch and as I said that will result in points, no doubt.”
