Jersey Bulls boss Powell may step down at end of season

Brent Pilnick - BBC SportThu, August 6, 2026 at 4:58 AM UTC

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Elliot Powell led Jersey Bulls to the highest-ever finish in the English football league system by a Channel Island side in May

Elliot Powell says this season could be his last as Jersey Bulls manager.

Powell took over the side in the summer of 2024 after spells in charge of the Jersey FA representative side and local club team St Peter.

He guided Bulls to promotion from the Combined Counties League in his first season before finishing third in Isthmian League South East in May.

Jersey Bulls' first season in the fourth tier of English non-league football ended in play-off semi-final defeat on penalties to AFC Whyteleafe.

"We had a three-year plan when we took over, which was to get us out of step five and then consolidate us in step four," Powell told BBC Sport.

"We've sort of done that within two years, so now we've had to adjust that plan and I think this is going to be all guns blazing, one more go at it, certainly from a coaching perspective.

"We know we've got a shelf life, we're an intense coaching team, we ask an awful lot of the players, so for us it's probably one last push at trying to get us out of step four.

"Fingers crossed that can happen and then we can have a crack at step three and prolong it by another 12 months or so.

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"But the ambition has to be to get promoted, and if that happens, fantastic, if it doesn't, then the club probably needs to re-evaluate where it's at."

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Powell becomes new Jersey Bulls manager

Powell succeeded Gary Freeman as Jersey Bulls manager after the islanders missed out on promotion via the play-offs in 2024.

Freeman had been in charge of the island side since its foundation in 2019, leading his then-unbeaten team to a promotion from the 10th tier of English football in 2021 after a post-Covid-19 league restructure.

But the highly-rated Powell says the job as Jersey Bulls manager takes its toll as the amateur side juggle travel to and from England with full-time jobs.

"I think the club in its current state as an amateur club can compete at step three.

"I think we can get up to that level and consolidate there, but it would take an almost perfect season to get there and we saw last year, I don't think it was a perfect season, but it was pretty close to, especially given the preparation we'd had with a poor pre-season.

"This year brings a different challenge and if we can get up, then fantastic, it won't be the last dance, we'll all be having a crack at it I'd imagine.

"But this is a natural end point to this project, and possibly if it's two near misses then it might be time for something else to be considered, like we saw with Gary and his team, there was a couple of near misses in step five and a play-off defeat and then a reset and that reset allowed the club to jump up a level.

"The main thing is that the club continues to progress and continues its momentum up the leagues."

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