It's been a Massive Challenge says Pitman

Hereford United manager Jamie Pitman has given a long interview to BBC Sport. He was appointed early last October after Simon Davey left the post. Pitman had previously been the club physio.

"It's been a massive challenge and a massive learning curve," said Pitman.

"Over the course of the season I've gone from physio to manager. Then we had Russell Hoult as assistant. Then Lennie came in.

"Then in the same week I lost Lennie to Crystal Palace, Mathieu Manset to Reading but then I got another coach, Dave Kevan.

"It's been an up and down roller-coaster but we've done very well to keep grinding out results.

"People will always look at it and say he's a physio but I've played at a good level throughout my career. I've been with some very good managers, a lot of time with Graham Turner and I've worked at Forest Green as a player/coach.

"I had an insight into it so I've not come into it totally blind. But it has been a massive learning curve.

"I got on very well with Simon Davey and Andy Fensome so it wasn't a hard decision. I spoke to Simon about it and he said look opportunities don't come around very often, you have to grab them.

"Russell and myself were sat down at Northampton 3-0 down at half-time and we were looking at each other and thinking that's it. But then it all turned."

Watch the full interview at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/hereford_united/9396958.stm

There's also a interview with chairman David Keyte.

In it he talks about appointing Pitman as manager after ten games with Simon Davey in charge.

"Jamie was very keen to give it a go. Bit of a gamble for us. We set him on as care-taker manager until the end of December.

"We saw enough improvement to confirm him and Russell Hoult as his assistant through to the end of this season.

"Behind the scenes he wasn't only a physio, he's an ex-Hereford player, he knows his way round.

"We parted company with Davey on the Monday, we had a game on the Tuesday.

"We couldn't understand why it hadn't worked out with Davey but it's a results driven business and we had to make a change.

"I don't think (appointing Pitman) was high-risk because of his footballing pedigree, his background, his strong passion for Hereford United.

"He felt he could do the job, given the chance."

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