DARREN MANNING - MANAGER. Darren joined us from Basildon United on November 21 2023 and the club were very grateful to them for allowing us to speak to Darren and confirm his appointment so quickly. He was born in Grays and was an avid supporter of Grays Athletic from an early age. He became assistant to manager, Jamie Stuart at the time when we became 100% supporter-owned in 2016. He enjoyed a very successful spell at Hullbridge Sports and took them into the Isthmian League as champions of the Essex Senior League in 2019 after nearly thirty years at that level. He has also managed Welling Town and transformed Basildon United into a promotion contender in our Isthmian League North Division, before moving to his boyhood club.

CALLUM BOLGER. ASSISTANT MANAGERCallum is a young, hungry coach who is also a Grays fan. He joined Darren's staff at Basildon United and has been his right-hand man ever since. His knowledge of this level and players is second to none.

TERRY SMITH joined as our goalkeeping coach in June 2024, from Basildon United where he worked with Darren.
Local man, MITCHELL BALDOCK is our new Strength & Conditioning Coach.

SCARLETT HOOKER is our Sports Therapist and joined us in July 2024 from Saffron Walden Town. She is a PE Teacher. She will also be supported by Kendra Okanlawon, who is studying Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Wolverhampton.

SIM MADGEWICK – MATCH DAY AND COACHING ASSISTANT. Date of Birth 27 April 1983. A Grays supporter since he was a child, he is an essential part of our match day preparation. An early riser, he was previously a milkman, but now works for ProKit, the country’s leading specialist sports retailer to grassroots football. He is also a highly successful Lawn Bowls player, winning many county and national titles and having the honour of captaining Essex to only their 3rd ever National Title in 2008. His young daughter, Millie has been hailed as the future of Grays Athletic FC, after she won the Essex FA #CelebrateEssex “Supporter” Award in June 2018, following a poll with nearly 1,200 votes on their Twitter account.

DAVE DOYLE - RESERVES AND UNDER 18s MANAGER. Dave has been an important member of our youth coaching team for a number of years. For the 2024-25 season, he has taken on the additional role of managing our Reserves in the Essex Senior League Reserves North Division.

JOAO CARLOS - WINGER. Date of Birth 2 April 1989. A Grays Athletic legend! Joao returned to the club in September 2023. The Portuguese winger had spells at Clapton, Brentwood, Aveley and Dagenham & Redbridge, where he made one Football League appearance as a substitute in 2010. He first came to Grays in 2011. After a brief spell at Concord Rangers he re-joined Grays in December 2016 and made his 400th appearance on 4 January 2020 at which point he had scored 106 goals. He left us in July 2021, after 411 appearances and 110 goals. More recently, he has represented Hullbridge Sports and Welling Town. A very popular player and a real fans' favourite who has always found time to talk to supporters. Following the appointment of Darren Manning as our manager in November 2023, Joao has now also taken on a coaching role. He will support the development of younger players and help them to understand what it means to represent our community football club.

GEORGE CRADDOCK - MIDFIELDER. Date of Birth 14 December 1994. George joined us from Brentwood Town in March 2024. The central midfield player brings real quality to the middle of the pitch. He also has experience with Heybridge Swifts, Potters Bar, Braintree, Aveley, East Thurrock and Welling United. He started his career as a youth at Northampton Town.

JOE DAMRELL - MIDFIELDER. Date of Birth 15 August 2003. Joe signed first-team forms in the 2022-23 season and made several substitute appearances. He was also an important member of our successful Under 23 team that won the Essex Senior League Reserve Division South in 2023-24.

KENEDI DARIRI - DEFENDER. Date of Birth 18 December 2001. Kenedi joined us from Barking ahead of the 2024-25 season, where he had been since he was sixteen. He made his 1st team debut in 2020-21. He made 120 appearances, scoring 11 goals. A highly promising player, he will add pace and power to our defence.

MICHAEL FINNERAN - DEFENDER. Date of Birth 3 May 1994. Michael returned for his second spell at the club in September 2023 after representing Maldon & Tiptree where he was club captain. He started his career at Romford, moved to Grays in February 2018 and made 40 appearances. He then became part of the successful Canvey Island team between July 2019 and December 2022, helping them to promotion to the Isthmian Premier Division at the end of the 2021-22 season, beating Brentwood Town on penalties in the play-off final. Another popular player who brings important experience to our defence.

ARON GORDON - WINGER. Date of Birth 28 January 1997. Aron re-joined us from Haringey Borough in September 2021, after he had made 23 starts for The Blues in the 2018-19 season, scoring six goals. He has also played for Waltham Abbey and Redbridge after representing Doncaster Rovers and Watford at youth level. His brother, Nathan played for us in the 2011-12 season when he also scored six goals, from 15 starts. Aron has now played over 150 games for us and is a real fans' favourite, with his blistering pace, an eye for goal and a smile to go with it.

LUKE HIRST - FORWARD. Date of Birth 29 September 2000. Luke joined us from Barking ahead of the 2024-25 season. He had a couple of prolific seasons there, scoring 48 goals in 59 appearances, playing under Darren Manning for a short period. He also had a short stint at Enfield, scoring against us in the first league game of last season. He was with us in the pre-season of 2020-21, but suffered a bad injury in our friendly against Hashtag United. He has also represented Brentwood Town, Bowers & Pitsea, Hashtag United and Basildon United and had spells abroad with IFK Mora in Sweden.
J
ACK HUMPHREY - DEFENDER. Date of Birth 31 March 1997. Jack became Darren Manning's third signing in his first week as our new manager, joining us on 24 November 2023. Jack was previously with our League rivals, Brentwood Town. He was a youth player at Leyton Orient and he has also represented Potters Bar Town, Welwyn Garden City, Tring Athletic, Wingate & Finchley, Maldon & Tiptree, Heybridge Swifts and Histon.

ISAAC LONG - DEFENDER. Date of Birth 27 March 2005. Isaac signed for us in July 2024 after a successful trial period during pre-season. He made his debut for Isthmian South East side, Phoenix Sports in the last game of the 2023-24 season in their 2-1 win over Sevenoaks Town. He was also a member of the successful Bowers & Pitsea U18 side that won their league in 2021-22 and played in 37 games across two years for them.

ALEJANDRO MACHADO - MIDFIELDER. Date of Birth 7 November 2000. Spanish-born, Alejandro joined us from Basildon United in December 2023. He started in the Real Madrid youth setup before moving to England. He has also played for Northern Premier League Guiseley AFC, Essex Senior League, Woodford Town and Isthmian South Central Division, South Park.

ALEX MOSS - DEFENDER. Date of Birth 29 May 2002. Alex joined us from Basildon United ahead of the 2024-25 season and made 31 appearances for the Bees last season, after he joined from Maldon & Tiptree in September 2023. He was previously at Hullbridge Sports where he made 69 appearances. Darren knows Alex well from his managerial spells at Hullbridge and Basildon and is looking for him to add strength to our defensive line.

ANTHONY PAGE - GOALKEEPER. Date of Birth 11 March 1993. Anthony, who was a midfielder earlier in his career, joined us from our landlords, Tilbury in February 2024, to increase our goalkeeper coverage. He played for us in friendlies in 2018, but did not sign and moved on to represent Heybridge Swifts, Waltham Abbey, Ware, Brentwood Town, Enfield Town, Romford, Dulwich and Hashtag United.

ALBERT PERRY - FORWARD. Date of Birth 7 January 2002. The young forward joined us from Essex Olympian League Premier Division side, Toby FC in March 2024. Albert can play anywhere across the forward line and adds a different dynamic up front. He came through the youth set-up at Basildon United before moves to Basildon Town and Witham Town.

LOUIE REMI - WINGER. Date of Birth 28 August 2000. Louie joined us from Maldon & Tiptree in March 2024. He made 20 appearances for New Salamis in the 2022-23 season, scoring 11 goals and also made six appearances towards the end of the season for Maldon, scoring once. The wide player has an eye for goal and is an important addition to our attacking options.

DANNY SAMBRIDGE – GOALKEEPER. Date of Birth 29 October 1992. Danny joined us from Coggeshall Town in the 2019 close season. He is a local lad who went to William Edwards School in Grays and fondly remembers that the first time he ever played football was in the indoor ball court at our old Recreation Ground in Bridge Road, Grays. His previous clubs include Dagenham & Redbridge, Witham Town, Heybridge Swifts and Maldon and Tiptree. Danny has played nearly 500 senior games, 200 of those whilst at Heybridge Swifts which included the first round of the FA Cup and the 2nd round of the FA Trophy. He was voted Player of the Season for 2022-23 by our supporters and has made over 160 appearances for us between the sticks before the start of the 2024-25 season.

DHILLION SANDHU-NELSON - WINGER. Date of Birth 19 November 2004. Dhillion has signed again for us in July 2024 and is another product of our successful youth section. He made his debut as a 17-year-old in a 3-2 win at home to Felixstowe & Walton in October 2022.

ELLIOTT SARTORIUS - MIDFIELDER. Date of Birth 29 July 2002. Elliott, an attacking midfielder, joined us from Waltham Abbey in February 2024 and scored an important equalising goal on his debut against Wroxham in the 90th minute as a 67th-minute substitute. He also represented Bowers and Pitsea, St Neots Town and Wealdstone and was originally in the Lincoln City Youth Academy.

MATAS SKARNA - DEFENDER. Date of Birth 1 May 2005. Matas joined us on loan from Concord Rangers in February 2024, a move which became permanent in March 2024. He is a Lithuanian Under 17 international, who previously represented Hashtag United before his move to Concord Rangers in September 2023. He was struck on the ankle by a firework from a nearby property which landed on the pitch when he was playing in a game for Hashtag on 5 November 2021, but thankfully he did not require hospital treatment.

MALAKI TOUSSAINT - MIDFIELDER. Date of Birth 24 October 1996. Malaki rejoined us for a second spell in January 2024 from Romford. He originally signed in the 2022 close season from Phoenix Sports after he had impressed in our pre-season friendlies and made 34 appearances in the 2022-23 season, before injury cut his season short in March 2023. He had previously been a regular in the Romford side, whom he joined in November 2018 and played an instrumental part as they managed to avoid relegation that season.  He played over 70 games for them before signing for Leatherhead in October 2021 and Phoenix Sports in December 2021.  He has previously represented Barkingside, Redbridge, Woodford and Walthamstow.  

BOBBY UNWIN - WINGER. Date of Birth 12 December 2002. Bobby joined us from Cheshunt in January 2024. He started his career as a first-year scholar at Southend United in 2019 and represented their Under 18 and Under 23 teams. He moved to Bromley in 2022 and was part of their successful Under 23 team, before joining Cheshunt at the start of the 2023-24 season.

SID WALKER - MIDFIELDER. Date of Birth 29 May 2002. Sid joined us from Basildon United ahead of the 2024-25 season. He joined Basildon in 2022 and made 67 appearances over two seasons. He has also represented Brentwood Town, played Under 18 football for Essex and played briefly for Romford. Darren knows him well from his time at Basildon and expects him to become an important part of our midfield.
The club also has a flourishing youth section, with young boys and girls learning the game and together with their parents, becoming an integral part of our community football club.