Neal Ardley focussed on Mark Hughes' team rather than reputation ahead of Woking's National League opener

A new season of the National League kicks off this weekend, with DAZN the place to be to see all eleven games from the opening day of the campaign. 

In a fixture list that is bursting with stories, there'll be particular attention to events at the Kingfield Stadium as Woking begin their 2025-26 by hosting relegated Carlisle United, led by former Premier League boss Mark Hughes. 

Hughes becomes the latest big name to boss in the National League, as he's tasked with getting United back into League Two after dropping out of the Football League for the first time in two decades. 

However, despite the Welshman's pedigree, which can boast both Premier League and National League posts, his opposite number on Saturday, Neal Ardley, is only focused on what Woking can do to stop Hughes' current side. 



Talking exclusively to DAZN News ahead of the opening day game, Ardley, who outranks his opponent when it comes to experience bossing at this level, doesn't see it as a matter of battling a big name, but just what his team can do to beat Hughes' team on the day. 

"It's really weird. I don't ever feel that way," Ardley said when asked about pitting his wits against the former Manchester City manager. 

"I look at it as when we come up against a manager, there are certain managers who you know play a certain way and you go, right, okay, they're really good at X, Y and Z. How do I set my team up for that? And so on and so forth.

"So, you kind of learn people's styles and management styles and some teams under certain managers are really good at finding overloads and spare players and having players feel like you're two men down in the game.So, you've got to kind of cater for that.

"So, it's not really me pitting my wits against Mark Hughes. It's me pitting my wits against what Mark Hughes and his team will bring and seeing if I can get my team ready for that challenge." 



Hughes isn't the only big name that Ardley will come up against this season, with the league boasting such well-known bosses as Simon Grayson, who's taken over at Hartlepool, Forest Green's Robbie Savage as well as the likes of Kevin Maher, Derek Adams and Mark Cooper. 

All British names, and Ardley thinks the National League is benefiting from having these managers filter down the leagues, where they aren't seemingly getting as many opportunities further up the pyramid. 

"I think we all know now, if you look at the Premier League, Eddie Howe's our only sort of English lead. I think that's just filtering down the quality in the Championship.Getty Images

"What with the influx of foreign managers and coaches, it's sort of filtering down, filtering down to the point where you're starting to see teams in League 1, League 2 and our leagues starting to have managers who once managed in the Premier League or the Championship. It brings a whole new dynamic to it.

"It's great for young managers. There are some great teams playing great football at our level." 

Woking aim to be one of those teams this season, as Ardley begins a first full season in charge at the Surrey club. He came in halfway through last season as the club struggled at the wrong end of the table. 

However, the former York and Solihull boss turned the Cardinals' fortunes around, largely down to a winning streak that saw Ardley go unbeaten in his first 17 games. 

Now, he admits, after surviving the scares both on and off the pitch last year, the plan is to build on and improve the solid foundations that the club's owners and manager have implemented. 



"We didn't have a lot of stuff last season," he reveals. 

"We were fighting fires. The pitch was really poor. The infrastructure at the club was poor.

"That's not the owner's fault. That's what he inherited. So he set about a lot of things behind the scenes, which are really positive.

"From my point of view, you know, it's like when I went to York the season before and they were bottom of the league. You know, when you go in, you have to do what's needed. You can't go in, you know, with an open plan of, right, this is the first objective. 

"For me, the majority of the time, when we get a summer to kind of shape things and improve things, we do it. So hopefully that will continue.

"It wasn't all bad. There were lots of players who did really, really well for us that we've offered terms to and managed to keep.Phil Fiddes

"So you kind of want to build on that consistency that we did have. We only lost three in 23 games. And then say, OK, what turns draws into wins? What gives us a better chance of being at the higher end of the table? And we try and add to that. And that's what we try to do.

"It's not a perfect science, but at least if you've got a plan, you can work towards it." 

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