Former Bishop Auckland Goalkeeping Coach John Bottensien has joined the club, to fill the void left by the departed Carl King.
The 46-year-old was down at Croft Park on Thursday night to take his first session since agreeing to link back up with Assistant Manager Colin Myers at Blyth.
And, despite replacing a popular figure at the club, the former Bristol Rovers keeper admitted that it didn’t take him long to think about joining Spartans.
Bottensien said: “When I got the opportunity to come, it was a no-brainer really. This club’s a massive club.
“I know a lot of people won’t be pleased, what with Carl being here, but people move on and new people come in.
“It’s nothing personal, at the end of day. It’s just a footballing choice and it’s one that has allowed me to come to a truly great football club.
“It was simply a case of me wanting to come and coach at a higher level of football, which is what we all want to achieve as coaches.”
And ‘Shiney’ believes that his sessions will benefit the goalkeepers at the club, but only if they apply themselves properly.
When asked how he hopes his coaching methods will help them, he joked: “Hopefully, they’ll stop the balls going into the goal. It’s as straight forward and as simple as that.
“Basically, I just want them to work hard. I expect them to put the work in in training, so they can reap the rewards.
“If we can get the basics right, then the rest will follow. But, it has to be put in on training days.
“I take pre-match warm-ups and run them like a training session as well and I work a little bit differently to what other goalkeepers do.
“I want these lads to be physically fit, so they can get round the box and that. I also want them to start to think about the whole game and not just the goalkeeping aspect of it.
“They have to be able to see the full picture – as that is how football is played now. A goalkeeper has to mentally fit as well, so they can be sharp and quick when making decisions.
“If we can do that, I think I’ll turn these lads into good goalkeepers.”
Manager Tom Wade revealed he was reluctant to let King go, but he’s glad to have Bottensien on board as a ready-made replacement.
He said: “To be honest, I’m disappointed that we’ve had to lose ‘Kingy’. He’s a good coach and a good lad.
“‘Kingy’ was the first choice but, unfortunately, it was a financial thing. We can’t really afford a goalkeeping coach at the moment.
“John was at Bishop Auckland with Colin and he came in and said he was prepared to do it for nothing. He just wants to get involved at this level.
“It’s a big plus for us, because he’s a very good coach.”