Adam Hinshelwood was appointed City’s manager on 27^th February 2024, just a day after the sacking of Neal Ardley on a "long term contract".

Read More: Worthing and City report the appointment.

Aged 40, Hinshelwood had been at Worthing for over 6 seasons achieving 2 promotions and at the time of his departure, Worthing sat 3^rd in National League South with 19 wins and 11 loses. Last season, they lost in the play-off semi final to Oxford City.

His Worthing team played all out attacking football, scoring plenty (and conceding a good number) of goals. At the time of his departure, u Upfront, journeyman striker, 28 year old Ollie Pearce has 33 goals (including 4 hat-tricks) and has scored in each of his last 7 games.

His entire footballing career has been based in the south east. As a centre back, he spent most of his injury blighted career with Brighton, later spells followed at Aldershot and Wycombe, before retiring in 2010 aged just 26 with a serious knee injury. His transition from player included a spell as a gas man and bag packer at Next and he had to move his family including kids, into his in-laws home and rent his own out. That sort of grounding took him into non league football and given him an excellent grounding and mindset. He did his coaching badges with Steven Gerrard, what different career paths since.

Subsequently he has managed several small teams in Sussex and has spent a number of years coaching in Brighton’s academy. He was appointed Worthing manager in December 2013 and left in 2015 to take up a role in Brighton’s academy. He returned to Worthing as manager in 2017. Hinshelwood’s promotion to the National League South was halted twice during both the 2019–20 and 2020–21 covid hit seasons, with their eventual promotion secured in 2022 after keeping up on their relentless title-winning form to complete a full season. Subsequently, he was noted in the betting odds for managerial vacanices at Aldershot and Notts County.

To date, his managerial career has been spent at part time clubs playing in regional leagues with little in the way of national media attention. Before joining City, he had discussions about the vacant Sutton managerial post (probably late 2023) and later Worthing refused Wealdstone permission to interview Hinshelwood in January 2024 when their manager Stuart Maynard left to go to Notts County, but as they are part time, Worthing refused permission. Hinshelwood is now thrust into full time club, based 250 miles from his home territory, playing in a national league.

Adam Hinshelwood is the son of ex-England under-21 and Crystal Palace footballer Paul Hinshelwood and nephew of Martin Hinshelwood. His grandfather Wally Hinshelwood was also a professional footballer. Adam’s son Jack plays for Brighton & Hove Albion, making his Premier League debut in May 2023.

He prefers a 442 or 42131 formation and his sides are noted for their free following football and high scoring games.

Moving from Worthing with Hinshelwood are Gary Elphick and Cameron Morrison.

38-year-old Elphick joins as Hinshelwood’s assistant manager. The former Brighton & Hove Albion defender signed for Worthing back in 2015 helped to steer Worthing to win promotion from Isthmian League Division One South at the first attempt via the play-offs. Between 2015 and 2017, he was Worthing manager. He repeated his feat of promotion from Isthmian League Division One South East with Hastings United, winning the title in 2022 before returning to Worthing in the summer of 2023.

Morrison, a qualified UEFA A license holder and MSc degree in Performance Analysis and BSc degree in Football Coaching & Performance, joins City as first team coach. He also worked at Brighton's academy.

Speaking a day after the appointment, Matt Uggla explained the decision, he said, "I want to say thanks very much to Neal and Coxy (Neil Cox, assistant manager) for everything that they did, they left the club in a better place than when they arrived. The decision wasn’t taken lightly, but when we came into the club we had a very clear vision of creating a real identity for the club and the thoughts of myself and others were that we were moving further and further away from the original vision. Along with the recruitment, a lot of the recruitment was made for a certain style of play and we kind of want to see a football team out there playing. The way we moved away from it, if you’re going to do that then you need to get results, otherwise it’s quite ugly football. You can get away with it when you’re snatching late winners, which is fantastic, but I think it was to stop the bleed of moving further and further from the identity of the club. That was the decision we came to. Things were getting, and this is my opinion obviously and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think that we were getting worse, not better. You look at the teams around us, and I know a lot of people say to not look at the teams around you but I think you have to, Kidderminster have made a managerial change and they are flying, Ebbsfleet made a change and are flying, Woking made a change and have picked up wins. I just think that for what we’re trying to do as a club, in the short-term I do believe that we are in trouble and that this gives us a better chance, otherwise we wouldn’t have made this decision. I’m not just looking at the next 11 games, which are crucial, but what is exciting at York is that we are very much aligned in our visions of where we see the football club running and what we want to see on the pitch. Our ambition can match Adam, who is up and coming and has done a fantastic job in Worthing’s vision, so I am excited. After the Barnet game we had decisions to make. One of the things where we have gone wrong since coming in is by reacting to situations rather than planning for them. We had a plan in place ready to go if we needed to go down that road, we were constantly monitoring people and had followed Adam and a few others for a while, and back tracked a lot of the data, games and had people watching so we could make the most informed decision. After the Barnet game we sat and talked for a while, and we believed that it was the right time. Adam was definitely our first choice, but we could get it done quickly and before the next two games which are crucial. We spoke and he (Neal Ardley) understood, his words were that its football and these things happen, it’s a results based business. He can only be the one to tell you if he was shocked or not, but to me he didn’t seem too shocked. The players that we have at this football club are fantastic, there is a quality in that squad that far exceed our league position. When you play a certain brand of football and you’re not built for that brand of football, you’re probably going to get frustrated and people do get frustrated as a club. I look at the players and staff as one big family, and if there is an issue then I don’t want it lingering. I want them to come and talk to me about it, so that we can address the issue. So yes, there have been people coming and talking to me and saying that we’re not too happy, that’s normal and that happens often, we deal with it. When people had come and talked to me, I will bring it up. It’s crucial that we stay in the league, but Adam has been so successful because of his philosophies. If that’s the way that Adam sees fit to keep us in this league, then fantastic and I truly believe he can from what he’s done with Worthing, unbelievable. He’s got a great background with Brighton as well. It’s an entertainment business and I want to come here on a Saturday and be entertained, Adam has come into a difficult situation but personally I believe that there is enough in this squad for it to start ticking. Time will tell, I might be wrong, but I’m very excited not just about the next 11 games we’ve got, but I’m very excited for the next year, two, three, four, five years. I really think we have found our man to help build this club an identity and move us forward, if the worse happens and we take a step back to take three steps forward then I’ve got to live by the decision I made. But I think that if we sit down here in five years time, then you will say 'good decision Matt'."

It is understood that Hinshelwood was first approached on the day after City's defeat at Barnet and he was announced as City manager on Tuesday afternoon. He had been on City's radar, but not interviewed, when Neal Ardley was appointed manager in September 2023. The appointment was the work of a very small inner sanctum of City officials, believed not to include David Stockdale, with a heavy stats based approach.

A full time manager, at a part time club, in 7 years as Worthing’s manager, he oversaw steady progress, one promotion and he left with the club firmly established in the NLS play off places. His sides were noted for their free flowing football and high scoring games, although not always in the favour of Worthing.