Back to the future: Edmo hoping for fresh success at Workington Reds

Yahoo

12-05-2025

Darren Edmondson says the chance to return to Workington Reds as manager came 'out of the blue' – but he's excited by the prospect of going back.
Edmondson has rejoined the Borough Park club some 12 years after his previous stint in charge came to an end.
That first six-year spell saw Edmondson become Reds' longest-serving manager and the club have now turned to the 53-year-old to replace Mark Fell.
The Cumbrian has left Northern League Division One club Penrith to return to west Cumbria to lead Workington in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.
And Edmondson believes it is a good time to be heading back to the club, even if it was not an opportunity he had expected.
'It came totally out of the blue,' he told the News & Star.
'I was talking to my wife about whether we would keep going with Penrith or whether we might have weekends back as a family.
'Being a part-time manager is a big old slog – I don't think people realise what it takes. You're never off the phone, you've got your own daytime job to look after, then you've also got training on an evening, and the modern player is different to the old player – there's always an issue.
'But this was a different conversation. The standard of football is higher, there is the potential of the new stadium at Reds, and crowds show they seem to be going in the right direction again.
'So it's an exciting moment for myself.'
Edmondson will be joined at Borough Park by his Penrith assistant Richard Prokas. The pair will work with existing Reds coaches Brian Dawson and Billy Redden, who guided Workington to NPL Premier safety in the closing stages of the 2024/25 season after Fell's departure.
In the end Reds shot up to 12th on goal difference on the final day, before pressing on with their move to appoint Edmondson.
Fans rally behind Edmondson in 2009 - the new boss hopes for more good backing from the faithful now (Image: PAUL JOHNSON)
'The two clubs [Penrith and Workington] spoke and there was an agreement that Reds would be able to speak to me,' he added.
'It has progressed slowly but quietly, and that's what everybody wanted. Everybody needs to be happy with certain situations, otherwise you're not going in with the right frame of mind.
'We're all happy with where we are. Bringing Richard in is great, and I know Brian and Billy and I'm sure we'll all work well.
'I also know a lot of the players so I think it will be an easy transition for us.'
Edmondson believes there is potential for growth at Workington after two seasons back at NPL Premier level.
'The directors realised that the squad had maybe been underachieving last year,' he said.
'In the event they finished ten points off the play-offs, when everyone had been saying at the back end that the second half of the season was dreadful.
'I think it shows that maybe there was a gulf from the top three or four, where all the money was, but then the rest is very similar and very close.
'So the club are quite positive with what we can do next season. We've just got to start recruiting as soon as we can and see if we can pull in as much local talent as we can and see if they're all interested in coming to be part of a new project.
'Then, beyond that, we'll have to look outside the Cumbrian perimeter, which is always a difficult one but we have to consider everything.'
Edmondson led Reds to the FA Cup first round in 2008 during his first spell, when they faced Bury (Image: ROBERT RATHBONE)
Edmondson enjoyed some good times at Workington from 2007 to 2013, when he was in the infancy of his managerial and coaching career. He led the club in Conference North and also guided them to the FA Cup first round proper in 2008 – the last time they have reached that stage.
What, then, about the old maxim of 'never go back'?
'I think that is different as a player to a manager,' he said.
'As a footballer, if you leave and go back two years later, you might be just bringing the same stuff back.
'As a manager, and certainly in my case at Workington, you're talking different times, different people at the helm – and you're different in yourself, differences in how you mature as a coach and a person.
'I was just starting out back then. There were some fantastic times. I'm not thinking about that now. If we can get anywhere near that, it'll be great, and if we don't there'll be reasons for it.
'I'll just give everything I can and try and push what's here and to try and take the club as far forward as we can go.'
Certainly the support has grown for Workington of late, the club recently announcing that aggregate numbers through the Borough Park turnstiles (16,372) were at their highest level since the season Reds went out of the Football League (1976/77).
Their average home gate of 780 was also their second highest since that campaign.
Edmondson hopes to tap into this.
'I think with any club, when the fans are positive and coming down in numbers, that helps the team, doesn't it?' he said.
Edmondson and assistant Richard Prokas have left Penrith for Workington (Image: Ben Holmes)
'That's vital and it seems to be what's been happening recently. So there's obviously a good connection between the club and the players and the fans, which is great.
'That was one of the reasons for me – that it seems to be uniting in the right direction, and I think that proved the case over the last few games where they picked up results and the crowd were back supporting the players.
'The first thing that has to be said is that fans have got to keep coming and being positive with the players, and the players will react in the way that everybody responds correctly to praise and positivity.'
Edmondson, after his first spell at Workington, had two years at Barrow but, from 2015, other than a short stint with Bradford Park Avenue, was out of front line management for the next seven years, as he spent time as Carlisle United's academy manager and also pursued other opportunities, such as running the Cumbria Institute of Sport at Newton Rigg.
His involvement with the latter saw him more closely on Penrith AFC's radar and he returned to the dugout with the Bonny Blues in 2022. He says that opportunity whetted his appetite for the role again.
'I've thanked Billy [Williams, Penrith chairman] for giving me that opportunity, for getting me back into the dugout and reigniting the spark again,' Edmondson said.
'The excitement and the stresses of it all…it comes as a package. But if you're a football person, that's what you enjoy and that's what you like.
'I had three great years at that club. The stadium is now fantastic and I wish everybody there all the best.'
Edmondson, from his playing and coaching days, is closely associated with Carlisle United and hopes links between Blues and Reds can be strong, even as he laments United's drop into non-league themselves following consecutive relegations.
'I'm gutted about that,' he said. 'Hopefully it can be a one-year spin-around to get them back [into the EFL].
'But any help they can give us, and vice-versa…that's got to be positive. I've had Dan Hopper at Penrith, and I've definitely seen a change in him since he came in, got roughed up a little bit and put himself about.
'Hopefully that will set him in good stead, and then likewise I know the directors at Workington have been impressed with the lads they've had from Carlisle.
'I always think it's win-win.'
In terms of the immediate in-tray at Workington, Edmondson said: 'Making sure the players the club want to keep, sorting those lads out, is the first thing.
'And then it's looking to see what we can do recruitment-wise.
'In terms of what success looks like…that's a difficult one.
'Some will say now, even though I've done it before, I'm new to this level now and it's like starting again, almost.
'But we need to finish higher than we did last season and be pushing into the top half. We've got to start on a high, with the way the season finished and the fans that came down.
'I think we should be pushing towards play-offs, but that depends on how well we can recruit and retain. It's early days, but we've got to go in with a positive mindset in that if we can finish mid-table, there must be something in that squad that says we can go better than that.'