Dagenham & Redbridge's new interim manager Wayne Burnett. Pic:Nick Potts/PA

Safety the first target for Burnett

Colin Munford Friday, March 1, 2013
3:15 PM

Dagenham & Redbridge interim boss Wayne Burnett hoping to enjoy first home game in charge against Chesterfield tomorrow.

As welcomes to management duties go, Dagenham’s new interim boss Wayne Burnett believes it could not have got any tougher.

Burnett, previously the Daggers first-team coach, was placed in charge until the end of the season on Tuesday after John Still left the club for Luton Town.

He will take charge of his first home game when they welcome Chesterfield to Victoria Road on Saturday and knows it will be tough.

That is followed by a trip to Rotherham the following week and the 41-year-old knows it’s not the easiest start to life as a Football League manager.

“The aim is to get safe first, but it’s very tough fixtures with Chesterfield and Rotherham,” said Burnett.

“Welcome to management, hey! It would be hard to say that a certain amount of points will get us to safety as it could rest on the players’ laurels.

“We want to secure safety and go beyond that. There are 33 points to play for, that’s a hell of a lot of league points up for grabs and hopefully we can take a fair few of them.”

And while Burnett always thought one day he may get his management chance with the Daggers, he didn’t expect it to be this soon.

“There was always the premise that I may take over one day, but I didn’t expect it to happen like this,” he added.

“I spoke to John at length when he had made his decision and he said to me: ‘You’re ready for this.’ Coming from him that means a lot because of what he has done for this club.”

The caretaker boss has experience of management at non-league level with Fisher Athletic, Dulwich Hamlet and Grays Athletic, but is going slightly into the unknown with the Daggers.

But he did get a congratulatory text message from Charlton Athletic boss Chris Powell.

“It’s all about learning game by game and I haven’t done so at this level,” he said. “This is new to me but I had a message from Chris Powell saying: ‘Welcome to the land of no sleep.’ And I am sure it will be like that, it’s certainly been a manic couple of days.”